Brussels, 25/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana protested against the decision taken by Israel on Sunday to confine the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority to Ramallah. Yasser Arafat "must have total freedom of movement, total freedom. I do not believe that it is wise to place him in a regime of semi-liberty", he declared at the beginning of a one-week trip to the Middle East. After talks with Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, Solana will meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdallah of Jordan. A visit from which "one cannot expect a miracle" in the current context, Solana declared before leaving.
French President Jacques Chirac, who is meeting Shimon Peres on Tuesday, referred to his "great concern at the developments in the situation in the Middle East". German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer declared in Berlin on Sunday that he "considers Arafat's freedom of movement very important". On the eve of a trip to Washington this week by Spanish Foreign Minister and EU Council President Josep Piqué, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar declared to the press that a European policy for the Middle East "on the fringes of the United States is neither possible not desirable".