Frieda Brepoels (Verts/ALE). – (NL) Mr President, many members have already focused on Syria, and rightly so. I fully support that focus, but I want to say something in addition about the Middle East. The European Union has, indeed, been the biggest sender of aid to the Palestinians for some years but, time and again, we have seen our efforts cancelled out by actions from the Israeli side.

Like Ms Oomen-Ruijten, I, too, am pleased with the latest decisions from the Foreign Affairs Council on the Middle East. They have really touched on the heart of the matter given Israel’s subsequent prickly reaction which means that we definitely hit the right spot. Obviously, these words look great on paper, but I keep asking myself the following question: what should the EU do to really contribute to the peace process?

On this subject, I have a very specific question about the Quartet: what do you think about the proposal put forward by the Arab League to include them in the Quartet and make it into a Quintet? I know that the United States are blocking that move but what does the EU think? Perhaps this could provide new momentum! And, better still, perhaps the UN Security Council should again be directly charged with managing the peace process given that we did not get anywhere with Mr Blair’s mediation mission.