29/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, during a meeting with Israeli ambassadors to the EU Member States in Jerusalem on Tuesday, said that the EU Member States cannot play a political role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process if they continue to have an unbalanced view vis-à-vis Israel. He said that Europe could play a positive role if it encouraged the Palestinian Authority to continue the reform process and urged it to fight terrorism. (See Europe of 24 December, p.3, on Tony Blair's plan to hold an international conference in London in March 2005 on strengthening the Palestinian Authority, a plan welcomed by the Palestinians, who criticise over-simplified views of the Middle East peace process.)