German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has invited the prime movers behind an Arab Middle East peace plan to join a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on May 14.

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EU seeks talks on Arab plan

Published: Saturday, 5 May, 2007, 08:39 AM Doha Time

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has invited the prime movers behind an Arab Middle East peace plan to join a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on May 14.

He made the invite yesterday to foreign ministers from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Syria as well as Arab League chief Amr Moussa during an international conference on Iraq, a source with the German delegation said.

Germany currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

At a March summit in Riyadh, Arab leaders revived a five-year-old peace plan that offers Israel normal relations if it withdraws from all land seized in the 1967 Middle East war, and allows for the creation of a Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees.

The EU has seized on the initiative as a potential way out of the seemingly intractable conflict.

Israel, which rejected the plan when it was first launched in 2002, has recently said it could provide a basis for talks, provided there are amendments to the refugee issue.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah Khatib warned the meeting of Arab ministers and EU representatives that there was now momentum in the peace process “that we cannot afford to lose,” the source said.

EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who also took part in the meeting, said however that rising calls for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign over last year’s Lebanon war complicated peace efforts.

“At the moment there are probably few possibilities for a meeting between (Palestinian) President (Mahmoud) Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert,” she told reporters.

“But we hope that the situation in Israel will be resolved as soon as possible because it is extremely important to seize this moment.”

She said Arab foreign ministers she spoke with had echoed the importance of seizing the moment, describing the Arab peace initiative as “extremely important”.

“They say this moment is so important now - we should not waste any time and that is why I hope they we will manage to create some momentum... The Arabs want peace now - they are ready for it.”

She said Abbas would need the support of his Arab neighbours for any compromises in the name of peace.

Members of the international Quartet for Middle East peace, comprised of the EU, the UN, the US and Russia, were to meet the Arab foreign ministers here later yesterday. – AFP http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=147459&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17