In early March 2009, the IPU President, Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, undertook an extensive tour of the Middle East. Accompanied by the IPU Secretary General, Mr. Anders B. Johnsson, he visited the Gaza strip, Palestinian territories on the West Bank, Egypt, Jordan and Oman. The trip took place in the aftermath of the latest military operation carried out by Israel.
In Gaza, evidence of destruction was everywhere. The delegation saw schools and a hospital lying in ruins, government buildings bombed out, an industrial area reduced to rubble and twisted metal, and a storage building in the UN compound destroyed. Individual dwellings, housing complexes and places of worship had been shattered through bombardment and tank fire. Fields had been burned out, plantations destroyed and olive trees uprooted. According to the Palestinian authorities, fifteen thousand homes had been damaged or destroyed and one hundred thousand Palestinians had been displaced.
These facts resurfaced time and again in the discussions the IPU President had with the President of the Palestinian Authority, the then Prime Minister and a broad section of Palestinian political leaders and members of Parliament from many parties, including Fatah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Palestinian Popular Party (PPP).
In Sharm El-Sheikh, the IPU President attended an international conference in support of the Palestinian economy for the reconstruction of Gaza. In Cairo and Amman, he met with the Speakers of the Parliaments of Egypt and Jordan, Dr. Ahmed Fathy Sorour and Mr. Abdulhadi Majali respectively. Contacts with the Speakers of Arab Parliaments were pursued also in Muscat, Oman, where the IPU President attended a Conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Throughout the visit, Dr. Gurirab repeated the same message. It is imperative to end the vicious cycle of violence and suffering and start serious negotiations. Exclusion, condemnations and boycotts are not likely to solve this conflict; only an inclusive process will achieve that objective.
The IPU President intends to present a detailed report on his trip to the Middle East to the forthcoming session of IPU Governing Bodies in Addis Ababa. The report will summarize some of the more salient points, suggestions and conclusions drawn from the visit.
