Paris, 31/07/2000 (Agence Europe) - At the end of talks, in Paris on Saturday, with French President Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat told the press that, "normally", the proclamation of a Palestinian State was scheduled for September, but that "we shall consider the appropriate moment for the proclamation", taking account of "all the recommendations of our friends". (President Clinton had warned against a unilateral proclamation, declaring that "our relations as a whole would then be altered", and several EU officials have also spoken out against a unilateral proclamation). Mr. Arafat also insisted on pointing out that the proclamation of a Palestinian State had been scheduled for 4 May 1999, but that it had been postponed for a year to "enable the Israeli Prime Minister to assume his responsibilities". (Friday, Jacques Chirac, President-in-Office of the European Council, spoke over the phone to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Saturday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak).
The prospects for peace in the Middle East will be one of the main topics that EU Foreign Ministers will broach at their "Gymnich"-type meeting, in Evian on 2 and 3 September.