Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún travels to Palestine before UN petition

Bairbre de Brún (Photo: GUE/NGL European Parliament Group)

SPEAKING from Jerusalem during a four-day visit in advance of Palestine submitting the question of Palestinian statehood to the United Nations, Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún, part of a delegation of MEPs from the European United Left/Nordic Green Left group in the European Parliament, said:

Our conference and visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank comes at a very opportune time: in advance of today's Quartet meeting and as the Palestinian Authority prepares to submit the question of Palestinian statehood to the United Nations in the autumn.

We had the opportunity to discuss these issues with Prime Minister Abbas, with Prime Minister Fayyad, with Hanan Ashrawi and PLC members from all parties and with some Knesset members and NGOs.

The EU must now promote at the wider international level its already agreed position in favour of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders unless the parties agree otherwise with East Jerusalem as its capital

The EU should also protest the arrest and deportation this weekend of those EU citizens who came to Israel and Palestine to protest peacefully or to monitor the human rights situation, as well as the block on many others of even boarding a plane at an EU airport.

The GUE/NGL European Parliament group of MEPs on the Palestine visit are:-