Vienna, 26 January 2006 - Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik welcomed the fact that yesterday's elections in the Palestinian Territories had gone off peacefully. The team of EU election observers assessed the election process as being open and fair, and paid tribute to the high turnout. "This shows that the Palestinian people have the will to decide on their political future using democratic means", declared Plassnik.
She continued: "As for the composition of the future Palestinian government, that is a decision for the Palestinians themselves, which means in particular President Abbas and the future Palestinian Parliament. The EU will have to decide how to structure its future cooperation with the Palestinian authority".
Plassnik stressed that the EU has been and still is willing to support a Palestinian government which champions an end to violence and a negotiated peace settlement to the conflict in the Middle East on the basis of a dual-state solution.
She added: "At the same time, we have in the past repeatedly made it clear that there should be no place in the political process for people and groupings who advocate violence. For this reason, we urge all political forces in the Palestinian Territories to pursue their aims using purely political means, to renounce violence and to acknowledge Israel's right of existence. All the representatives who have been successfully elected in these elections should clearly declare themselves in support of these aims in the Palestinian Parliament".
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