EUs Solana favours jump to endgamein MideastFriday, January 19, 2007--
Web posted at: 1/19/2007 7:37:29
Source ::: REUTERSCairo The European Union joined Egypt, Jordan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday in suggesting that Middle East peace talks move straight to the disputes at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.For the past few years, peace attempts such as the road mapof 2003 have concentrated on small confidence-building measures, leaving aside bigger questions such as the status of Jersualem, the borders of a Palestinian state and refugees.EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also said a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East mediators in February would try to find ways to ensure progress towards peace before the summer. What we would like to do with our friends is to know what is the endgame once we have the endgame, to know really how we can get there, Solana told a news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Endgameis the diplomatic code for negotiating aspects of a lasting peace agreement between Israel and its neighbours.US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this week she would bring Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert together in informal talks to discuss how to set up a Palestinian state. A senior US administration official, however, has said the meeting would not forsake the road map, raising doubts about Washingtons commitment to accelerating the process.The official, who was travelling with Rice during her Middle East tour that took her to Egypt and Israel among other countries, said the meeting was likely to take place in the Middle East within three to four weeks. Rice said the three-way summit would focus on the political horizonthat would ultimately lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.Aboul Gheit said the US top diplomat would return to the region in February. It has different names with different partners. With the Europeans its framework. With the Egyptians its the endgame. With the Americans its the political horizon. But the concept is almost one,Aboul Gheit told reporters.
Abbas wants to leapfrog the "road map" -- a detailed process backed by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations to lay the ground for final-status negotiations in the future -- and move straight to the big issues: the border between Israel and a Palestinian state, the status of Palestinian refugees and of Jerusalem. Will Olmert agree? If he does, could he sell the idea to his colleagues in a coalition that's weak and unpopular?
US diplomats now speak of the "political horizon" while Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, today echoed the Egyptian term "endgame" to express the desire to move beyond the cautious steps envisaged by the roadmap and straight to a lasting peace. "What we would like to do with our friends is to know what is the endgame -- once we have the endgame, to know really how we can get there," he said.
Solana'Please be assured the European Union is going to do its utmost to try and see if we can move the process forward in a real manner not just theoretically or rhetorically,' he said.
Cairo - European Union chief diplomat Javier Solana and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit in Cairo on Thursday called on Israel and the Palestinians to reach a peace agreement by the end of 2007.During the short visit by Solana to Egypt, both ministers also called on the United States to aim for progress in the conflict by the end of the year, as the time before the 2008 elections acted as a 'window' of opportunity in which the parties to the conflict could find agreement on fundamental issues.Solana said that the region needed to reach an 'end of the game.'Solana, who earlier Thursday also met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, is to continue his tour in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also said a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East mediators in February would try to find ways to ensure progress towards peace before the summer.
Israel's Labour party leader and defence minister, Amir Peretz, meanwhile, has his own ideas. He and his deputy, Ephraim Sneh, have unveiled what they term "the new road map", calling for final status negotiations with the Palestinians within six months. Egypt and Jordan have also proposed fast-forwarding the process.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to meet in coming weeks with Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to explore ways to accelerate peacemaking. The so-called Quartet of Mideast negotiators — the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia — will convene ahead of those talks, Rice said."Two years are enough to conclude a detailed agreement," Sneh said at the Netanya Academic College. "We should discuss, maybe for six months, the principles, and move forward about the details of final status agreement.""We have an opportunity, but I dont know for how long will it last," he said. "We have to do it very, very quickly."
BERLIN Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says there's reason to hope for quick progress toward a Middle East peace agreement.Rice says Israeli and Palestinian leaders are "very desirous of making progress" toward a peace agreement. And she says progress would have a "very important effect" on the region.
"The whole region is looking for a way to accelerate progress and to drive toward the establishment of a Palestinian state, and so this is a very important time."