EU Parliament President Pat Cox said Israel, while entitled to tackle terrorism, was now producing "insecurity", not security, in its responses to attacks by Palestinian radicals.
The "spiral downwards" was "very worrying". To avoid full-scale war a political platform involving respected world figures was urgently needed, Cox told DW-RADIO ahead of an EU summit in Barcelona, Spain. The Saudi land-for-peace initiative and the U.N. Security Council's call for a Palestine state alongside Israel were signs of hope in a "black moment".
He praised the Middle East envoy, saying Miguel Moratinos was risking his life daily to keep open lines of communication. Israel's destruction of EU-funded Palestinian infrastructure in recent months was "disgraceful", Cox added.

March 14, 2002
42/02