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Host Sherif FamThis Week In Palestine: European Parliament Vice President Luisa Morgantini (2-17-08) (February 17, 2008)

Host Sherif Fam interviews her excellency Luisa Morgantini, Vice President of the European Parliament via transatlantic phone. They discuss Israel's brutal treatment of the Palestinian community, European trade agreements and trade practices, and enforcement (or lack thereof) of their human rights provisions on trade with Israel.

"This Week In Palestine" is a weekly feature of WZBC's Truth and Justice Radio, aired weekly Sundays 6-10am ET. Listen live at wzbc.org; the programs's website is truthandjusticeradio.org; it contains links to our playlists, contain links to archived audio.


This audio is part of the collection: Open Source Audio

Artist/Composer: Host Sherif Fam
Date: 2008-02-17
Keywords: Palestine; occupation; brutality; genocide

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Notes

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:

Good morning everyone, and welcome to “This Week in Palestine,” a weekly segment of news from Palestine, and discussion of issues relevant to the Palestinians’ struggle for freedom from Israel’s brutal military occupation and colonization of their homeland. This program presents news and analysis from the Palestinian perspective, a perspective we do not get from the mainstream media.

We continue to ask our listeners: were you involved last week in the Palestine-Israel peace movement and the Palestinians’ struggle for freedom from Israel’s illegal military occupation and colonization of their homeland? Did you speak out on the atrocities Israel is committing every day in Gaza and the West Bank? If not, why not? There are many ways to get involved. Here are a few examples:

One: you could join the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights by going to its website at bcpr.net or by calling (617) 491-2313;
Two: you could join the Middle East Crisis Coalition by writing to: crisismiddleeast@yahoo.com;
Three: you could join the Israel-Palestine Task Force of United for Justice with Peace by writing to: ujpiptaskforce@yahoo.com;
Four: if you are Jewish and prefer to join a Jewish group, there is the Boston Chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace which you can contact either by calling (617) 984-0532 or by visiting its website at vopj.org where you can also volunteer to participate in the JVP Health and Human Rights Project to help provide medical aid to Palestinians and help raise global awareness of the effects of Israel’s occupation on the health and welfare of the populations living under it.
Five: you could go to Palestine and help with the olive harvest or help Palestinians live their daily lives under occupation by contacting the group Boston to Palestine at its website: bostontopalestine.org;
Six: you could work with the International Women’s Peace Service in Palestine by applying to iwps-pal.org;
Seven: You could go to Palestine under the Birthright Unplugged program or,
Eight: under the “Needle in the Groove” program by applying respectively at birthrightunplugged.org and needleinthegroove.org;

It is Sunday, February 17, 2008.

Our topic today is Israel and its relationship with the European Union. Before introducing our featured guest, it is worth noting that Israel today is enjoying a most astonishingly generous trade agreement with the European Union. According to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs , the “Treaty of Association” and the Fourth Framework Research and Development Program Agreement which the EU granted Israel in 1995 provide Israel with unfettered access to European capital; free flow of capital and investment between Israel and the EU; freedom from all restrictions to the movement of goods, people or services; no economic or fiscal customs duties; and a pledge by the parties to take steps to mutually open the government and public sector procurement markets beyond the scope of the framework of the World Trade Organization, which all other nations have to follow. In addition, Israel is one of only two countries in the world (the other being Switzerland) which are not EU members but have the right to take part in EU R&D projects, and participate in EU R&D tenders.

Today we have the privilege of welcoming Her Excellency Luisa Morgantini, Vice President of the European Parliament, as our featured guest. She joins us now by telephone.
Good afternoon, Madam Vice President. Thank you for being our guest today on “This Week in Palestine.”

1. The European Parliament has been called “one of the most powerful legislatures in the world, both in terms of its legislative and its executive oversight powers.” Could you explain the relationship between the European Parliament and the European Union and what weight the Parliament brings to bear on the EU’s economic, political and policy decisions?
2. You led a delegation of 10 members of the European Parliament on a recent visit to the West Bank and Gaza, from February 2 to February 7 which was billed as a visit “in solidarity with civil population. ” What can you tell us about your visit: what you saw, whom you talked to, and what your impressions were….?
3. This falls well in line with what Professor John Dugard, the UN Special Raconteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories has been saying all along. Hehas even urged the UN to withdraw from the Quartet.
4. I am quite puzzled, Madam Vice President: There seems to be an abundant awareness in Europe of the real situation on the ground and Israel’s recalcitrance. Yet, we have heard Europe accept Israel’s excuses for its actions, which have been described as war crimes by Europe’s own investigators. Europeans have even made the same demands Israel has made of Palestinians. We have not seen any speaking out in strong terms. Why is that do you think? Why does Europe have this incredibly generous agreement with Israel. I do not understand why Europe is not seeking to enforce its own rules of trading engagement as it has with other countries?
5. As you know, Your Excellency, European countries, perhaps more than any other countries know what it is like to be occupied, to live under occupation, and to fight against occupation. But not when it comes to Palestinians. Palestinians do not have the right to fight military occupation. Take for example France’s vaunted Resistance…
6. One should condemn such rocket attacks at the same time as one condemns a military which attacks civilian population centers in Gaza and the West bank. When a military attacks population centers with F15s and Apache helicopters…
7. You have made an important point. It appears that Europe has not yet recovered from the traumas of World War II and, despite its strong economy and its currency, which now competes with the dollar as the international medium of exchange, it does not feel confident enough to play a leading role in international affairs. Our eyes turn in hope to Europe to actively engage in correcting the mess Mr. Bush has made.
8. Returning to Israel, there is a growing international movement for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it retreats behind the 1967 Green Line, which is gathering momentum, especially in Europe. Has that ever come to Parliament for debate?
9. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Israel’s total exports in 2007 (excluding diamonds) amounted to roughly $5 billion, of which $1.8 billion were exports to Europe. That is to say, 35 percent of Israel’s total foreign exports are to Europe. This is a very significant number. If Europe were serious about enforcing its trading regulations and promoting an end to Israel’s war of expulsion, it could very simply impose trade sanctions against Israel until Israel ended its military occupation and retreated to the Green Line.
10. Of course. If the EU does not insist on having its rules of engagement respected, is it not making a mockery of its own rules?
11. What can one do from here to help?

Thank you so much Your Excellency for being our guest today.

You have been listening to Her Excellency Luisa Morgantini, Vice President of the European Parliament.

And that is all we have for today. We wish our listeners a pleasant and restful weekend and look forward to having you with us next Sunday, same time. Until then, this is Sherif Fam signing off for now and reminding our listeners to get involved in the good fight for a just and peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Thank you.

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