Israel poll should be wake-up call for dialogue

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 5th Nov 2003

Responding to the 'Eurobarometer' poll for the European Commission in which 59% of Europeans considered Israel a threat to world peace, London Liberal Democrat MEP and member of the European Parliament foreign affairs committee Sarah Ludford said:

"Having just returned from a trip to Israel, I understand the shock that Israelis must feel at this poll result. It is clearly ludicrous to say that Israel poses more of a threat to world peace than Iran or North Korea.

"I'm convinced that many answers reflected muddled thinking, as if the question was about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians or the invasion of Iraq which Israel supported. But it was still deeply unhelpful to pose the question in an unbalanced way, and I will be pursuing queries about Eurobarometer.

"That said, I do believe we should treat this as an urgent wake-up call. Europeans must reiterate that they utterly support the right of Israel to exist in security while Israelis should avoid the knee-jerk dismissal of all criticism of current policies as either anti-Israel or anti-semitic.

"Europeans should do more to enhance their dialogue with Israel. It was with those motives that I have been to Israel now 3 times in 3 years, as a member of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel and most recently with new organisation Medbridge when we met Ariel Sharon, Tommy Lapid and Shimon Peres.

"The European Union is an important player in the search for peace and calls for its withdrawal are misguided. I and my fellow Liberal Democrat MEPs recently ensured with our votes that the European Parliament (by a majority of 8) rejected cutting off the association agreement with Israel.

"A more intense dialogue is needed to allow Israelis to explain the threats they endure while Europeans convey their protest - shared by many Israelis - about human rights breaches in the occupied territories. In a way it is a tribute to Israel being the only true democracy in the Middle East that criticism and comment flow so easily. Now let's use this crisis as an opportunity for candid but not hysterical talk."