This demonstration is about justice: justice for Palestinian people. Their right to self-determination and to a Palestinian state. And justice for all those innocent people in the occupied territories who are killed and injured daily by brutal military oppression and aggression.

We oppose the loss of all innocent life. But there can be no justification ever for the use of heavy weaponry against civilians in densely populated areas, including ground missiles launched from tanks, tank shells, missiles from helicopter gunships and F-16 warplanes. Homes, workplaces, clinics, schools, mosques, churches and universities have been destroyed. Water and electricity supplies have been cut off. There have been deliberate attacks on paramedics, emergency medical staff and patients in ambulances - in clear breach of the Geneva Conventions. Human Rights Watch has documented many breaches of international humanitarian law. There is such profound shock at the cruelty that Chris Patten, former Tory MP and current European Commissioner for External Relations, this week said that the Israeli policy of blockade & destruction was designed not to destroy terrorism but to destroy the Palestinian Authority

And this week in the European Parliament in Strasbourg I met an Israeli soldier who has joined Yesh Gvul (which translates as "there is a limit") - a growing organisation which supports Israeli soldiers, now numbering over a thousand, who are not pacifists - on the contrary they are willing to give their lives for their country - but who refuse to take part in the ongoing bloodshed in the Occupied Territories. 75 Israeli reservists have already been to prison for refusing to serve in the West Bank and Gaza.

The limit which they refer to is the most basic - a moral one. I would like to read part of their statement:

"We...have been on reserve duty all over the Occupied Territories and were issues commands...that had nothing to do with the security of our country and...had the sole purpose of perpetuating control over the Palestinian people. We whose eyes have seen the bloody toll this occupation exacts from both sides. We, who sensed how the commands issues to us in the (occupied) territories destroyed the values we had absorbed while growing up in this country...who understand now that the price of occupation is the...corruption of the entire Israeli society."

That is the evidence of those who have literally been on the front line about the policies of Ariel Sharon. And I believe that their powerful message helped shape the resolution passed by the European Parliament this week which called for an Israeli withdrawal, for a United Nations force to be sent in, for an arms embargo, and for the suspension of the EU-Israel agreement which gives preferential trade to Israel - 40% of Israel's trade is with Europe. The Israeli government is ignoring appeals from the international community so further measures have to be taken to stop the violence.

We are witnessing an appalling crisis. We can't imagine the desperation of young men and women who turn themselves into human bombs because they see no other way of defending their families and communities.

There is little cause for optimism as the news unfolds day by day. But we have to carry on working for a peaceful solution and also for a massive programme of humanitarian aid which will be needed to rebuild the Palestinian territories destroyed by Israeli weapons and bulldozers.

Israel must withdraw immediately from the Palestinian territories as UN resolutions and many, many countries have called on them to do. Today, we in Wales call for this as well. They must be brought back to the negotiating table and work out a just and peaceful agreement and abide by it. I will continue to campaign for that as Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales in the European Parliament, as we will in CND Cymru as part of an ever growing international network of movements working for peace, justice and human rights.

Diwedd/Ends.