Patten on Palestine
From The Right Hon. Christopher Patten, CH Sir: Douglas Davis ('Massacre of the truth', 20 July) packs three false accusations against me into a single bracket in his piece on Arafat. I am said to ignore 'incitement to violence on EU-funded Palestinian Television'. Wrong, on two counts: the EU has not funded Palestinian Television for five years or more; and I have raised with Arafat my concerns about incitement. I am said to ignore 'anti-Semitic hatred in EUfunded Palestinian schoolbooks'. Wrong, again on two counts: the EU has never funded Palestinian schoolbooks, and I have raised our continuing concerns about schoolbooks — though the situation is much improved. I am said to ignore 'the diversion of European aid to underwrite terrorist missions'. Wrong. Neither our own investigations nor Israeli government ones have established such diversions, So Davis scores the proverbial mil points of Eurovision fame.
The EU is all too well aware of bad governance within the Palestinian Authority.
We are glad that others are now joining our long-standing and increasingly successful efforts to drive reform.
Arafat, by the way, is the 'indispensable partner' insofar as he is the democratically elected Palestinian leader. If the Israelis make it possible to hold another free and fair election, some may hope that the Palestinians will choose a different one. But we can hardly insist (like some of my critics in Hong Kong who used to tell me that they had nothing against free elections as long as they could be told the outcome well in advance).
Christopher Patten Brusse Is
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