BELGIUM: PALESTINIAN AND ISRAEL FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET EUROPEAN UNIONS MINISTER TO DISCUSS MIDDLE EAST PEACE

Record ID: 400535

  • Title: BELGIUM: PALESTINIAN AND ISRAEL FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET EUROPEAN UNIONS MINISTER TO DISCUSS MIDDLE EAST PEACE
  • Date: 21st July 2003
  • Summary: (W5) BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JULY 21, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL BUILDING 0.05 2. VARIOUS OF BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY JACK STRAW ARRIVING AT EUROPEAN COUNCIL 0.24 2. VARIOUS OF FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER DOMINIQUE DE VILLEPIN ARRIVING 0.45 3. VARIOUS OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT ROMANO PRODI AR
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Reuters ID: LVAC4BYLWYQAUMBJXJ3MIFLV05BR
  • Story Text: The Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers have met
    on the margins of an EU meeting in Brussels, both agreeing
    that the European Union has an important role to play in
    Middle East peace process.



    Speaking at a meeting of European Union foreign
    ministers on Monday (July 21), Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan
    Shalom said Israel was keen for the European Union to play a
    more prominent role in the Middle East peace process.

    Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said he was
    confident Europe will assist in the building of an independent
    Palestinian state.

    Diplomats said it was the first time Israel, traditionally
    suspicious of what it sees as a European bias towards the
    Palestinian cause, had specifically sought to draw the EU into
    efforts to end the uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

    "I think that Israel and Europe have to live together, and
    that's why I'm encouraging the EU all the time all the time to
    play a key role in the peace process, and more that that I'm
    trying to convince the Israelis that there is a change in the
    European Union," Shalom told reporters after meeting his
    counterparts from the 15-nation bloc.

    Although the EU is part of the "Quartet" sponsoring the
    "road map" for peace along with the United States, Russia and
    the United Nations, diplomats say it risks being marginalised
    by Washington's post-Iraq war commitment to resolving the
    crisis.

    The EU has so far been left aside from U.S. moves to
    monitor compliance with the road map.

    But in a draft declaration the foreign ministers said the
    bloc was ready to "contribute in a substantial way" to
    establishing an efficient third-party monitoring mechanism.

    The ministers held back-to-back meetings with Shalom and
    Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath in Brussels, a
    format not seen since the end of 2001.

    Although the two men only shook hands and exchanged
    pleasantries, diplomats said it signalled easing tensions over
    the 33-month-old uprising and underlined the close relations
    cultivated by the EU with both Israel and the Palestinian
    Authority.

    Speaking after his meeting with EU foreign ministers,
    Shaath said he was confident Europe was behind the road map.

    "I am leaving with more conviction that Europe's
    commitment to implement the roadmap is full, that Europe's
    commitment is to respect the Palestinian people, their leaders
    and their choices democratically is there. That includes
    support for President Arafat and for Mr Abbas, the prime
    minister. I am convinced that Europe will help us rebuild,
    reconstruct and move ahead to have an independent Palestinian
    state, ending all the occupation of Israel," he said.

    EU ministers had stressed there could be no alternative to
    a swift and full implementation of the road map, which aims to
    end the Palestinian uprising with the promise of statehood by
    2005.

    Shalom said the EU and Israel had to "agree to disagree"
    on the question of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, with
    whom the Union is determined to keep communication lines open.

    Israel and the United States believe Arafat should be
    shunned because he is tainted by "terrorism", and the EU's
    insistence that he still has a role to play has in recent
    months been a hurdle to better relations with the Jewish
    state.

    "Among friends we can agree to disagree," Shalom said,
    adding that Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, also
    known as Abu Mazen, must be supported.

    "We have to strengthen Abu Mazen because he looks more
    moderate and his government speaks a new language," he said.

    EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is due to visit
    Israel at the end of this week. Diplomats said it was not
    clear whether he would meet Arafat.




  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register