内容摘要：“Therefore, we should also avoid making contradictory statements on this matter. … I continue to see no unity in the coalition and no political will to act appropriately and with strength and consistency in response to Russia’s massive escalation. Such statements are therefore overall unhelpful because they highlight Europe’s weakness to Russia,” he wrote.

“Therefore, we should also avoid making contradictory statements on this matter. … I continue to see no unity in the coalition and no political will to act appropriately and with strength and consistency in response to Russia’s massive escalation. Such statements are therefore overall unhelpful because they highlight Europe’s weakness to Russia,” he wrote.

I have made it plain throughout: Here I stand. Not because I am the all-knowing arbiter of right from wrong – any honest writer is aware of how exhausting and foolish that can be – but because I am obliged to tell the truth clearly and, if need be, repeatedly.I consider ending what has happened and continues to happen to Palestinians to be the moral imperative of this awful, disfiguring hour.

It requires a response since silence often translates – consciously or by neglect – into consent and complicity.Each of us who shares this sense of obligation and duty responds in our own way.Some make speeches in parliaments. Some lock arms in demonstrations. Some go to Gaza and the occupied West Bank to ease, as best they can, the pervasive misery and despair.

Writing in defence of Palestinians – of their humanity, dignity, and rights – is not meant, nor can it be dismissed, as a polemical provocation.For me, it is an act of conscience.

I do not write to mollify. I refuse to qualify what has happened and is happening to Palestinians as “complex” to provide readers with a convenient and comfortable ethical exit ramp.

Occupation is not complex. Oppression is not complex. Apartheid is not complex. Genocide is not complex. It is cruel. It is wrong. It must yield to decency.The project “meets a need identified a long time ago: it’s the water of the future,” said Karina Vergara, an environmental and social manager at the ACP.

Work on the reservoir is expected to begin in 2027 and finish by 2032, with an estimated investment of $1.6bn.Of that sum, $400m is allocated for compensation and relocation of about 2,500 people from various villages.

“We have a firm commitment to dialogue and reaching agreements” with those affected, Vergara said.If the reservoir is not built, “we’ll regret it in 15 years,” she said.