Miguel Portas (GUE/NGL). – (PT) One thousand is the number of the day, one thousand deaths to teach a black lesson. Excuse my frankness: how many more lives will it cost to elect Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak in the February election?

We are here today to demand a cease-fire and an end to the slaughter of civilians. However, the resolution also raises issues about our own liability. It reminds us that the Council decided to upgrade diplomatic relations with Israel, against the opinion of this Parliament. This was complicity by anticipation. Today I hear: ‘It is necessary to talk to Hamas’. We would have saved years if we had respected the elections in Palestine.

The role of Europe is not to support the politics and the destruction imposed by the stronger side. It is to listen to the clamour that is filling the streets and squares of our cities.

We demand a cease-fire now, but we must realise that peace depends on an end to the occupation. This word has fallen into disuse, but it has to come off the list of banned words where it was put by power politics.