Today in Strasbourg, Ahmed Qurie (Abu Ala), speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Avraham Burg, speaker of the Knesset told MEPs of their desire to see a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. Both parliamentary leaders restated their commitment to peace in addresses during a formal sitting of the European Parliament. In welcoming both guests to Strasbourg, Parliament's President Nicole Fontaine paid tribute to their efforts, remarking that both believed in dialogue and were passionate about peace. A summary of the speeches is available on Europarl.
Earlier, Commissioner Chris Patten told MEPs that EU aid for the Middle East was running at 800 million euros a year with a similar amount coming from the member states, which underlined the EU's commitment to the region.