Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I find one part of that answer truly extraordinary. I understand that Prime Minister Olmert is, in fact, speaking about a unilateral extension of the borders of Jerusalem further into the occupied area, east through the Jordan valley. It has nothing whatever to do with the Quartet or the roadmap for peace. What Mr. Olmert has announced is in flat rejection of what were called the Quartet's final stage talks. The Quartet spoke about dealing with east Jerusalem as the final stage. When 8,200 families were removed from Gaza last year, some 36,000 permissions were given illegally in the occupied territories.

This has led the second report of the Euro-Mediterranean network of human rights organisations, which includes human rights organisations on all sides of the Mediterranean, to draw a distinction between what it calls operative diplomacy and the declarative diplomacy of the European Union. It means that the EU issues statements that have no implications but accepts what are called practical arrangements or new realities.

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