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• Taking Action for Peace and Justice in the Middle East

• The Failure of the European Summit in December 2003

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine/Israel (EAPPI) was set up by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in response to a call made by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem and is now in its second year. Its mission is to accompany Israeli and Palestinian nonviolent peace activists in their acts of solidarity against the occupation, to observe and monitor human rights infringements, and to engage in public policy advocacy to end the occupation.

We heard moving reports from Angela O’Donoghue and Matt Robson about sharing the daily lives of Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation. Military checkpoints control and dominate their lives although only 9 out of 65 (14%) of them are actually on the Israeli/West Bank border.

Due to road closures and these checkpoints many jobs have been lost. 50% of the people in Taybeh (30 km north of Jerusalem where Angela spent most of her time) do not have any means of income and there is no government assistance for the unemployed. Business has been badly affected, with exports being delayed at checkpoints and ports.

Angela also met and took part in protests with Israeli Peace Organisations, such as the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD), Women in Black, and the Israeli Coalition of Women for a Just Peace (WCP). Many of their members are often accused of collaboration, ridiculed in the press and sometimes even receive death threats. Many Israelis say that they are against the occupation and want peace and yet, fuelled by fear, they support their government’s policies. Only a courageous few join peace organisations. They need your support.

Matt spoke of the separation fence/wall which has so far affected the lives of 300 000 Palestinians, but as you may have seen in the media, the wall is being extended all the time. The size of the wall varies. It can be as high as 8 to 9 meters, made of concrete with watchtowers (see photo), but mainly it consists of a high barbed wire fence with razor wire on top. It has a deep ditch to one side and a road for easy access for army patrols on the other. Only a small part of it is constructed along the green, or armistice line of 1967; most of it cuts into huge parts of the West Bank. This cuts off Palestinian villages and farmers from their best agricultural land and ground water supplies (see map).

Jayyous is one of 50 to 60 Palestinian villages affected so far where Matt witnessed the effect of farmers being separated from their land. 90% of the total agricultural revenues come from the fruit and vegetables produced on that land. There is a gate in the fence giving access to the farm land. This used to be open all the time but since August last year it is closed and opened according to an unreliable schedule. Some days the gate won’t open at all. Some days only certain people will be allowed through and the rules vary. Sometimes it is only men over 40, sometimes only people on donkeys, sometimes women are allowed to cross, sometimes not. After the Haifa suicide bombing the gate remained shut for 12 days and in 2003 many crops were lost. Now, Palestinian farmers have to apply for a three or six months pass to access their own land. There are no guarantees that passes will be issued or renewed. Human rights organisations – including Israelis – help farmers maximise their harvest of olives, but even so, for one farmer from Lower Yanoun, the annual olive harvest dropped from 2000 to 200 kilos last year. Time is running out for Palestinian farmers.

Illegal Israeli settlers continue to appropriate Palestinian land.

What can the European Union and its Member States do? Broadly there are three:

• Call for and support the establishment of an international human rights observer force in the West Bank and Gaza by international governmental institutions

• Support for an urgent restarting of peace negotiations on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions

• Full implementation of the letter of the EU – Israel Association Agreement including the withdrawal of preferential customs treatment for Israeli products until Israel complies with its obligations under the Agreement (for more detail on this issue, see the February issue of Around Europe).

The Ecumenical Accompaniers share the sufferings of both Israelis and Palestinians. They offer protection through their non violent presence. There are many ways in which you can help.

• Become better informed about the situation. Look at the EAPPI website at www.quaker.org.uk/eappi

• Support the work of the EAPPI by attending their meetings in your area and by informing others about their work

• Encourage the local press and radio to cover such events

• Support Israeli Peace activists via their website at www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org.

• Write to your MP and relevant departments in your Government to support the three key policy issues (see above)

• Write to your MEP to support the three key policy issues.

Liz Scurfield

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No agreement was reached and the Draft Constitutional Treaty is now in a state of limbo. At the time, the press and media focused on a few key issues at the heart of the disagreement. Most importantly, these were the inability of the Member States to agree on the allocation of votes for those decisions which are made by the Member States on the basis of Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) and the number of Commissioners there should be in the European Commission. Here, the question revolved around whether each country should have one Commissioner or not.

These were only the headline issues. There are other issues where there is a degree of disagreement, too. A number of the issues which the UK had highlighted as being their ‘red line’ issues did not even get debated.

But behind the headlines, there are more fundamental problems which make agreements between Member States difficult.

First of all, there is always the pressure of time. The agreements made in Nice about QMV were a compromise in order to achieve a Treaty which opened the door to enlargement during the French Presidency. The pressure on the Member States to agree the Draft Constitutional Treaty in December 2003, less than 6 months after the completion of the draft text, stemmed from a desire of the Italian Government to complete this Treaty during their presidency so this could be called the Treaty of Rome (echoing the original Treaty of 1957, which stands at the start of the European project). This time pressure, which is not unique to the European scene, is something that affects political processes everywhere. It is geared to election schedules and the desire for personal glory of the people involved. It has less to do with achieving sustainable solutions to real problems. It is up to the electorates everywhere to get the message across to our politicians that the solutions are more important than the timing of the solutions.

Secondly, there is a fundamental disagreement among Member States about the nature of the European Union. There are some Member States that want an essentially federal Europe. There are others that want anything but that. This is a difficult disagreement to paper over, even with a constitutional treaty. The politicians in the Member States in their approach to this question respond to what they think the electorate wants. However, the real benefits and disadvantages of each approach have not been discussed in a dispassionate way in public; nor has there been an exploration of what might lie between all and nothing. So the Draft Constitutional Treaty tried to hide these disagreements. But what we need is a more open and transparent debate – and that means a simpler way of putting the issues before the electorate.

Just one element of the Draft Treaty has been agreed and will be taken forward despite the failure to agree on all else: this is the European Armaments Agency, proposed in Article 40.3 of the Draft Constitutional Treaty, which will be set up.

The creation of the European Union was an experiment in peacebuilding; it has been successful at least within its own borders. Europe has much to contribute to the world’s understanding of how to build lasting peace between countries with a long history of wars.

QCEA had lobbied vigorously to establish a parallel European Peacebuilding Agency. This has not been agreed. We will continue to lobby for the establishment of such an agency and to work with other likeminded organisations to achieve this.

Martina Weitsch

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My name is Kshama Karin Pandey, and I am one of the two program assistants at QCEA for 2004.

I was born in Norway to Indian parents, and thus consider myself both Indian and Norwegian.

After going to school in Bergen I moved to the Norwegian capital, Oslo, where I started my law degree at the city’s university. The last year and a half have been spent studying at London Metropolitan University as part of my Norwegian law degree. These studies consisted of an LLM in European and International law and some additional human rights subjects. My studies in London strengthened my resolve to use my law degree to work to promote peace and understanding among the people of the world. As a student I have seen, time and again, that when starting their careers, many students have to compromise their principles in order to find employment, and this is particularly true lawyers. It is therefore a great pleasure and honour to be starting to work for a Quaker organization, such as QCEA.

My parents, and other relatives, worked within the Gandhi movement in India before coming to Norway. At home we were taught ‘Gandhian’ principles, such as non-violence and that God is in every human being. Our worship consisted of a prayer each of the Hindu, Christian, Islamic, and other well-known and lesser known faiths. Because of this background, it feels right to come and work to promote Quaker values in Europe.

Moving to Brussels is very exciting, and I’m very keen to sample what the city has to offer. I’ve already been introduced to the ‘frites’ at Place Jourdan, and the waffle sellers all over town. As I’m writing this on my second day of work, there are many things to learn, both about Brussels and QCEA. I am very positive about this coming year, and hope to be an asset to QCEA.”

Kshama Karin Pandey

“I am writing this even before I set foot in the door of Maison Quaker in Brussels as one of their new Programme Assistants. My two week delay in starting work is due to my kindly being allowed to attend Australia Yearly Meeting which is held in the first weeks of January 2004. Yearly Meeting is always an exciting event, especially this year with so many overseas visitors on their way to the Triennial in New Zealand.

So who am I ?

My name is Sarah Davies, born in New Zealand, based in Sydney, with British citizenship, and a childhood growing up around the world! Being a perpetual student with a thirst for learning and knowledge I have a few different studies ranging from podiatric medicine, sports therapy, sports broadcasting, media, Middle Eastern politics, and I am currently doing a short postgraduate studies in Conflict Resolution.

I was born into a Quaker family and am a Member of Australia Yearly Meeting. I have acted as the Australian Young Friends Coordinator in the past, running sessions about the role & importance of youth in the Society both in Australia and New Zealand. In 1994 I went to the QUNO-Geneva Summer School and in 2000 I attended the first QUNO-NY Summer School – these were instrumental in giving me a first hand view on how Quakers function internationally. In 1999 I joined an international team sponsored by AFSC / FUM to Israel and Palestine to examine human rights and peace issues. This trip greatly inspired and influenced my future. The result was that in 2001 I took up a position in Geneva with the World Council of Churches in their Peace & Disarmament section focusing mainly on Israel & Palestine and later Iraq. This was an eventful and often stressful year although it had its own rewards. In the same year I was also asked to become part of the World Gathering of Young Friends 2005 international planning committee (Europe based) which is great fun.

I love reading crime books, making mosaics, sleeping in, travel and cats (if anyone needs a cat-sitter I am more than willing!) I find cold weather completely unnatural so am currently soaking up as much sun as I can before flying to chilly Brussels.

That is me in a nutshell.

I look forward to meeting everyone and starting work with the Quaker Council of European Affairs.”

Sarah Davies

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