Jeddah/Cairo, 03/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - After a meeting in Jeddah on Monday with the foreign ministers of the Gulf States Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain) the President of the Council of the EU, Per Stig Moeller, said that the Gulf ministers had supported the broad outlines of the EU peace plan for the Middle East but not the detail, which they still needed to analyse (see yesterday's Europe, p.4, on the roadmap decided upon in Elsenor). The Gulf States want the plan to be implemented more quickly than the three years set out in the roadmap for the creation of a Palestinian state, indicated the Danish foreign minister, calling on the Gulf States to put pressure the Palestinians to stimulate the peace efforts. Mr Moeller also met the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and said that he was encouraged by the interview. "The Crown Prince said that the European Union's road map was a step in the right direction," indicated the President of the Council after this one-hour meeting. According to AFP reports, Mr Moeller also admitted that the deaths of eleven Palestinians killed on the weekend by the Israeli army could, "give the impression that Israel does not want peace"(see following page).
On Tuesday in Cairo, Mr Moeller and the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmed Maher informed that press (still according to AFP reports) that Egypt approved the E15 road map. On Tuesday, Mr Moeller is expected to meet the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon and on Wednesday, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat.