Brussels, 20/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, 19 October, European High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) Javier Solana began a three-day visit to Israel and the West Bank, where he again spoke of the prospects of a resumption of the peace process. In Palestine, where he met President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyadh, Solana also discussed recent developments in the process of inter-Palestinian reconciliation, slowed by Hamas' refusal to sign the agreement concluded under the auspices of Egypt. He hoped that negotiations with Israel would be able to resume very shortly. “Our dream is to have a Palestinian state and the sooner the better,” he said, according to information from Ramallah. This state, he went on, “will be constructed on territory marked by the borders of 1967”, the date Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. “It may be necessary to swap some territory but not to disturb the nature and continuity of the territory,” he added.
Solana also learned about the implementation of the structuring programme for the new Palestinian state, which the EU has said it will support once it has been declared. Discussions focused particularly on forming security forces, with input from European bodies. Solana visited the headquarters of EUPOL COPPS, the EU police mission based in Ramallah. The Palestinian press agency WAFA reported the high representative as saying: “I am happy that everybody recognises the efforts by the Palestinian Security Forces to guarantee security in the territories that the Palestinians control. I hear this from the Palestinian people, from the Israeli leaders and today I even read it in the press”. Referring to the work of EUPOL COPPS in supporting the Palestinian Civil Police, he said: “We are proud if we contribute to that”. (F.B./transl.rt)