Views from the South East
- Mark Powys-Smith -
I went to a hustings last night at which 4 Euro candidates standing for the South East presented their credentials to a group of voters in Charlbury, Oxon. The meeting was set up by the local UN Association. Before the discussion even began the Chairman, Malcolm Harper, invited everybody present to sign two petitions – one to Brown and the other to Obama – urging both administrations to reach out to Hamas and Hezbollah and incorporate them in the official peace negotiations (a la peace process in N Ireland).
The euro candidates included:
James Elles MEP (Cons) – 4th on the party list. Standing for his 6th term in office!
Catherine Bearder MEP (Lib Dem) – 2nd on the party list. Standing for her 3rd term in office.
Janet Keene (Labour) – 6th on her party list. Standing for her 1st term in office.
Philip Vander Elst (UKIP) – 4th on his party list. Standing for his 1st term in office.
Caroline Lucas MEP (Green) was invited but had to turn down the invite to appear on BBC1 Question Time.
I had the opportunity to ask a question to the panel of 4 candidates.
My question was: “On the day of elections, next Thursday, President Obama will address the muslim and wider world from Cairo outlining details of a road map for peace in the Middle East.
What do you think from your perspective as a Euro candidate should be the major components of that road map?”
The answers were quite enlightening…
ELLES MEP (Cons):
With a slight air of complacency – no doubt engendered by serving 5 consecutive terms in office – said that there was no other rational solution than the 2 state solution. Interestingly he also referred to Obama as a muslim himself!
He suggested that Obama is in a unique position to make real headway in securing a lasting peace between the Palestinians and Jews.
He said he is hoping that the election of a moderate candidate in the forthcoming Iranian Presidential elections (12th June) will inject fresh momentum into the peace process…
BEARDER MEP (Lib Dem):
Bearder said that she considers that Obama is very well placed to tackle what is a tinder-box political and cultural issue as his mother was an anthropologist and he has a particular understanding of ‘cultures’ given his background.
She said it is key that trust is built up in the Middle East and this will require all parties to be present at the table in discussions and negotiations. (I felt that she was implicitly endorsing the inclusion of Hamas and Hezbollah in official negotiations).
She did recognise though that the situation is exceptionally polarised between the Israelis who fear for their very existence and Palestinians who are oppressed by poverty and deprivation. She referred to Israel’s incursion into Gaza as a “disproportionate reaction to the problem”.
KEENE (Labour):
Keene said there is no other option/solution than the 2 state solution. There needs to be search for the middle ground. In the process of dialogue respect and understanding should be expressed to all parties involved in the negotiations.
She said Israel should pull out of the West Bank and allow the Palestinians to develop a proper fully functioning state.
She called for Israel to stop the ‘blockade’ of Gaza. She ended on a note of human messianism saying if anyone can sort out the conflict it’s Obama.
VANDER ELST (UKIP):
Intriguingly Vander Elst had a more nuanced response. He said the easy answer for me to give is that the solution is the 2 state solution.
He then went on to say that breakthroughs can come with hardline leaders in power – as in the days of Sadat and Begin.
He said that back at the time of the Treaty of Versailles (1917) Prince Faisal welcomed the Zionist movement and said that there is enough room in the Middle East for us both.
He did though sound a warning to those who advocate peace at all costs saying that it is impossible for Israel to negotiate with the radical Islamic fundamentalists in their midst. These fundamentalists reject Israel’s right to exist. In his words – the fundamentalists depict the Jews as pigs and a cursed people echoing the rhetoric of Nazi Germany. He also said how widely believed the ‘Protocols of the elders of Zion’ are in the Middle East today.
He said Israel can’t be expected to compromise with parties and state actors who threaten their very existence.
He said Israel can only engage and have dialogue with liberal Arab who recognise the right of the state of Israel to exist and who embrace liberal democratic values. In his view without these type of regimes in place in the Middle East there is little hope in the achieving peace between the Arabs and the Jews in the Middle East.
P.S. In the intro to Philp V d E- we were told that he is half Belgian. His father worked for the resistance and hid Jews in the war and his mother was a translator at the Nuremberg Trials!!
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