JERUSALEM: ISRAELI PM SHARON SAYS HE WELCOMES EUROPEAN INVOLVEMENT IN MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS.

Record ID: 400157

  • Title: JERUSALEM: ISRAELI PM SHARON SAYS HE WELCOMES EUROPEAN INVOLVEMENT IN MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS.
  • Date: 20th January 2003
  • Summary: (U7)JERUSALEM (JANUARY 19, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/PAN/MV/CU: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON ENTERING FOREIGN PRESS CONFERENCE; FOREIGN PRESS AUDIENCE WITH CAMERAS IN BACKGROUND; MORE OF JOURNALISTS IN AUDIENCE; SHARON STANDING AT PODIUM; FOREIGN JOURNALIST TAKING PICTURE (4 SHOTS) 0.3 2. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI PRIME MIN
  • Embargoed: 4th February 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVA458FF7QRQVE7J5I59TX1DW28B
  • Story Text: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he
    welcomed European involvement in the Middle East peace process
    on condition such international efforts were balanced.



    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has welcomed
    European involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
    provided it was even-handed.

    The comments made by Sharon during a press conference
    with the foreign media were in response to an interview
    published earlier on Sunday (January 19) that a peace plan
    drawn up by a quartet of international mediators should not be
    taken seriously.

    He clarified the remarks later, saying Israel was still
    in harmony with the American view of the Middle East conflict,
    but sometimes disagreed with European interpretations.

    "And I think that altogether we see eye to eye withe
    United States and not always with the other members," he said.

    The other three members of the so-called "Quartet" are
    Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

    The Quartet is still finalising its "road map" to peace
    but Sharon's caomments to the U.S. magazine Newsweek bode ill
    for its future effectiveness.

    Sharon, who faces a general election on January 28 in
    which security remains the central issue, suggested that the
    United States, Israel's closest ally, was the only Quartet
    member free of bias.

    "We not underestimate Europe. Talking to European
    leaders, talking to them I said many times to them, that I
    would like to see very much more involvement on the European
    side in what's happening here. But I had one condition -- I
    said you're attitude towards Israel and the Arabs and the
    Palestinians, should be balanced. Once it will be balanced,
    you are mostly welcome to participate," Sharon said.

    The Quartet spent two years outlining a plan to
    rapprochement that requires Jewish settlements be evacuated to
    make way for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza
    Strip. Israeli says Palestinain must halt militant attacks
    before the plan is implemented.

    But ahead of a possible attack on Iraq, the United States
    decided last month to put the plan on hold until early
    February, after Israeli's poll.



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