Brussels, 09/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - A European Troika is going to the Middle East from 15 to 18 November, to try to provide a contribution to rekindling the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, along the lines of the policy defined at the Ghent Summit. The Troika, led by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, will be composed of Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel and the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi. The High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, who was in the region end-October (see EUROPE of 22/23 October, p.6) will not be going. The European mission should meet the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat, on 16 November and the Israeli authorities, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on 17 November. Louis Michel was to prepare these meetings in talks in New York on Friday.
Palestinian Minister Nabil Shaab told the daily Al Ajam, according to the Handelsbladt, that the EU was preparing a peace initiative that it wanted to discuss first with the United States and that it suggested, notably: - peace negotiations on the basis of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 (which provide for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Occupied Territories); - the setting up of a security framework, through continued co-operation between the Israelis and Palestinians in matters of security; - a solution to the problems of some 4 million Palestinian refugees.