Brussels, 13/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Fifteen still agree to play host to 13 Palestinian militants expelled by Israel following the settlement to the problem of the Church of the Nativity. They did not,, however, manage to agree on Monday on the statute and conditions of hosting these thirteen. Nor did they agree on the distribution by Member States. The EU will try to decide on all these issues next week, t a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives. The Cypriot Government, which is for now hosting the thirteen Palestinians has asked these militants to leave its territory as quickly as possible, and if possible on Wednesday already. For now, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Ireland and Belgium have said that they were prepared to play host to the Palestinians. Other countries, like France and Finland are studying the issue. Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner clearly told the press that her country would not put itself forward in welcoming the Palestinians. "We shall make no offer", she declared, noting that "we have to leave the Austrian people with a feeling of security". "I believe we shall be able to resolve this problem definitively next week", declared Council President Josep Pique at the end of the meeting. According to European diplomats, it is however not sure that this goal will be attained. Many questions remain to be resolved. "We don't know much about the people on the list", declared the Austrian minister, like many of her colleagues. The new French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin notably asked if they could move around the Schengen area. Will they be free or prisoners? As there is no criminal case against them, they could enjoy all the rights of the host country, declared Pique. Would they eventually be extradited to Israel should the country so request? Israel is said to have stated that it would not ask for extradition: this was stated by Shimon Peres in a phone call to Javier Solana Monday morning. Mr. Pique also stipulated that the goal was to spread the Palestinians between as many countries as possible. The idea would be to keep them for two to three years, in guarded freedom, says a diplomat of a country ready to welcome them.
Josep Pique felt that there had been more positive than negative events in the Middle East over recent days. On the positive side, he cited, the consolidation of the Quartet in Washington, the improvement of the situation on the ground (he underlined the absence of reprisals after the last attack in Israel), the lifting of the siege on the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and the siege around the Church of the Nativity. The negative point, is the position of Likud, on Sunday, against the creation of a Palestinian State. This is a serious error in contradiction with the attitude of the international community, while the whole world knows full well that the only solution passes necessarily by the creation of a viable Palestinian State, stated Mr. Pique. He also stated that after analysis of the report provided by Israel, it appears that there is no proof of the diversion of EU funds granted to the Palestinian Authority, to the benefit of terrorist actions.