Brussels, 22/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - The High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana is on a rounds of the Middle East from 11 to 25 October, in which he is to raise the peace conclusions for the region adopted by the European Council of Ghent, with, in particular, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Arafat, the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the King of Jordan Abdullah II.
In talks in Beirut on Sunday with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, Miguel Angel Moratinos, EU Special Envoy to the region, feared "a collapse of the peace process" and stressed that Mr. Solana's new round of the region should encourage "a cease fire and a withdrawal of the Israeli army" from areas under Palestinian control.
On 22 October, the Parliamentary Association for Euro-Arab Cooperation (PAEAC) launched an appeal to the Belgian Presidency of the EU to do all it could to bring both parties to restart constructive negotiations. The Association condemns the brutality committed by both sides and notes that the frequent inroads of the Israeli army into autonomous Palestinian territory are a "violation of international law which no member State of the United Nations could permit itself without being censured".
European Parliament plenary session