EU: As Israel announced an end to its blockade of Lebanon, the European parliament heard calls variously for "dusting down and reinvigoration" of the Middle East road map to peace, strong sanctions against Israel and "no dodging or dilution" of the mandate to disarm Hizbullah.
The Strasbourg parliament's budget committee agreed a €50 million aid package for Lebanon, and Fine Gael renewed its call for the Government to rethink its decision to delay sending Irish troops to the Unifil Lebanon force.
Fianna Fáil Ireland South MEP Brian Crowley said it was time for the EU to speak "with one voice".
The "most important object lesson of the last six months for the EU has been our failure to speak properly with one single voice to give a clear message to all those countries that if they do something wrong there will be action taken against them. I don't mean military action, but the EU's strongest weapon is moral persuasion and the financial support we give," he said.
Labour Dublin MEP Proinsias de Rossa hit out at Israel, saying he did not ignore the "malign role" of Hizbullah, but insisted that Israel "must pay for the reconstruction of Lebanon, release the €400 million in Palestinian revenues it is holding, and face an international inquiry regarding the launch of its war against Lebanon and its actions during that war".
However, DUP MEP Jim Allister said the mandate to disarm Hizbullah should not be "dodged or diluted". He accused Hizbullah of being the aggressor and said its actions had shown the folly of allowing "terrorist- oriented organisations" into government, whether in Lebanon, Palestine or Northern Ireland.