Speaking in the European Parliament during a debate on the situation in the Middle East DUP MEP Jim Allister wholeheartedly supported Israel and attacked IRA-PLO links.

Mr Allister said, "I make no secret that in the Middle East conflict my sympathies lie with Israel.  Representing Northern Ireland I can readily empathise with a small country which has been subjected to sustained and vicious terrorist attack.  That empathy is increased by the fact that the assailants in both cases come from the fraternity of international terrorism which binds together organisations such as the IRA and the PLO.

The historical record shows not just kinship but active co-operation between the PLO and the IRA, with funding and training arranged for the Provisional IRA in Middle Eastern countries and official PLO delegates at Sinn Fein conferences.  As purveyors of death and destruction they had much in common.

Just as there must be no room for terrorism in Europe, so a pre-requisite to political progress in the Middle East is an end to all terrorism.  I, therefore, encourage Mr Sharon to be resolute in refusing to deal with terrorist organisations.  Drawing on the Northern Ireland experience I can tell him that pandering to terrorism never works.  It only encourages their insatiable demands and breeds a political representation ever wedded to the muscle of terrorism."

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