From the 16 November I joined the three day mission to Israel of the EP Israel Delegation, of which I am privileged to serve as the Vice-President.
I have understood the reality of Israel for many years. I was there for the first time in January of 1988 when the first Palestinian Intifada was launched. It was dubbed the "revolt of the stones" due to the common practice of throwing stones at Israelis.
I have dealt with the Arab-Israeli conflict since I was born in Egypt in 1952 - four years after the proclamation of the State of Israel (May 15, 1948) and the first armed conflict launched by the Arab armies. Like the majority of Egyptians at the time, I was influenced by Nasser who promoted pan-Arab ideology that preached the extermination of Israel, which was presented as a "worldwide imperialist cancer".
This was inculcated in the heart of the Arab world and the message was that Israel had to be eradicated with force. I was fifteen years old when, in 1967, the Arab armies suffered their most bitter defeat. Egypt paid a very heavy human toll and was left with a bankrupted economy.
It was then that I noticed the level of Nasser’s demagogy which denied the evidence of military defeat and continued to refuse any dialogue with Israel, let alone recognition or peace.
The dominant slogan was: "what has been taken by force can not be returned if not by force.” The idea that peace can be founded only upon the return of territories occupied by Israel in the war of 5 June 1967 was established by UN Resolution 242 of 22, November 1967 creating the principle of "land for peace".
 Since then, international diplomacy has been mobilized to press Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories, in the belief that this would automatically lead to peace in the Middle East.