Dublin, 06/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - The foreign ministers of the EU25 and ten Mediterranean countries engaged in the EuroMed process held an open discussion on the situation in the Middle East and Mediterranean on Wednesday evening during a dinner in Dublin. These exchanges, which opposed the head of Israeli diplomacy, Sylvain Shalom, to his Arab colleagues and which were attended by the secretaries-general of the Arab League and the Union of the Arab Maghreb, were, according to corroborating sources, "lively and heated".
According to an Arab source, the Israeli minister, who was among those against the Sharon plan, was guilty of "provocation" by issuing clear-cut opinions that did little for dialogue with the Arab ministers who were hardly more appreciative of the content of the Sharon plan. The EU, however, sought to underline the advantages. It presented it "as a step towards achieving the two state vision … a step towards the implementation of the roadmap" and "this step should provide a rare moment of opportunity in the search for peace in the Middle East". Europeans consider that such an initiative should be orchestrated by the international community and they hope a "political vacuum" implementation programme will be developed with a number of flanking measures in political, security and humanitarian areas to prevent the situation from worsening during an "interim period".
The secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Mousso, considers no plan is acceptable "if it does not take into account the basic element of the rights of the Palestinian people". This, he said, is a point of departure which must be on a "clear base", although he did not clearly state whether he accepted the Sharon plan welcomed by the members of the Quartet. In his view, "Israel is obviously not in favour or at least is only ready to partially apply it". Syrian Minister Farouq Al Shara affirmed that the Arab group was highly critical of this plan during dinner. He added: "Israel is isolated".
The situation in Iraq was also tackled. An Arab diplomat said that it was the opinion of the ministers of the region that "a half government (interim) is not a government but half occupation is still occupation".
European Troika meets Arab countries and Israel
On Thursday morning, the European troika met, in succession, the group of Arab countries, Israel and the Libyan Foreign Minister (see separate article on the latter).
When meeting the Arab countries, the EU, on this occasion represented by the president of the EU Council and Messrs Solana and Patten, attempted to convince their partners of the merit not only of the Sharon plan's partial disengagement from Gaza but also of engagement in a process of political and economic reforms as already invited to do by the Union. "We want a clear answer" from the Arabs to this suggestion, a spokesperson said recalling that the European Commission has decided to partially link the granting of MEDA financial resources to progress along the reform road.
When meeting Israel, the European troika spoke of the prospects of reaching a negotiated Israeli-Arab settlement. The Israeli minister forwarded a message from his head of government stating "the Sharon plan will be carried out". The prime minister, he said, is "resolved" to have this done "even if it has to be adjusted" after the Likoud, his own party, voted against (the foreign minister is among those who were against the plan). On the European side, emphasis is being placed on how difficult it is to mention all these issues with a minister of the hard Likoud faction, which uses "ideological remarks and frequent historic reminders". Sylvain Shalom welcomed the EU for having put Hamas on the list of terrorist organisations and said he wished the Hezbollah could also be included on it. On the matter of peace in the region, he regretted that Israel has no credible discussion partners. Commissioner Patten raised the issue of Palestinian products under the "made in Israel" label, recalling that the trade minister, Ehud Olmert had pledged at the last EU-Israel Association Council with Pascal Lamy to find a satisfactory solution. As solution, according to Community sources, would be to continue to label Palestinian products as being of Israeli origin but specifying the name of the town where the product is produced. Minister Shalom said that a decision would be taken on 12 May.