Brussels, 14/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - During a meeting in Jerusalem on Thursday evening with EU High Representative for CFSP Javier Solana, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stressed that Israel is interested in strengthening its relations with the EU, mainly through the European Neighbour Policy (ENP) in the context of which an action plan has been adopted by the EU Council. As far as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is concerned, Sharon shares Solana's judgement that a "new opportunity" has been created by the Palestinian elections allowing the "diplomatic process in the region" to move forward, according to a press release from the Israeli government. Sharon also stressed that he would be interested in resuming security "coordination" between Israel and the Palestinians "at every level". The Prime Minister told Solana that, "if the Palestinians take tangible steps to halt terrorism it would be possible to coordinate elements of the Disengagement Plan (DE) with them in order to ensure that territory is delivered only to Palestinian [National] Authority officials and that the evacuations are conducted quietly and not under fire". According to the Israeli government's press release, Mr Sharon stressed that the Disengagement Plan "has the potential of returning to the Roadmap", but he also explained that there will be neither compromise nor concessions when it comes to the security of Israeli citizens and cessation of terrorist actions. Solana welcomed Sharon's commitment to continue with his plan for disengagement despite the political difficulties that the plan creates within Israel.
Speaking during an interview shortly before his meeting with Mr Sharon, Solana had criticised the separation wall built by Israel, saying that this is an obstacle on the road to peace. The wall "is not a good thing for building confidence" between Israelis and Palestinians, the EU High Representative said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswire. At the same time, Solana was adamant about the need to ensure that the Palestinian Authority has effective structures and sound and transparent financial management. "Transparency - having no corruption - is related to having a state", he said. The Palestinian Authority has already made considerable efforts in this field and the work carried out by the current Palestinian Finance Minister, Salam Fayyad, is "extraordinary", Javier Solana said.
In the meantime, Israel has called on Russia to cancel the sale of missiles to Syria, considering that this could upset regional stability. "Syria is a country that supports terrorism and continually provides arms to the Hezbollah", Silvan Shalom, Israeli Foreign Minister, said on Thursday, adding that the sale of missiles will "not improve the chances of peace". Also on Thursday, Javier Solana urged the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to reconsider the agreement. After his meeting with Mr Shalom in Tel Aviv, Solana said the sale could trouble peace efforts in the Middle East. He recalled that Russia is part of the Quartet that drew up the Roadmap intended to take Israelis and Palestinians along the road to peace. "I am confident that President Putin will not do anything that runs counter to stability in the region, as it is just as much in his interest as it is in ours", he said. The Syrian government, for its part, stated that no agreement had yet been signed. Israel fears that the anti-air missiles, the Igla SA-18, could come into the hands of Hezbollah fighters, the pro-Syrian Lebanese Shiite movement, and aim at Israeli targets.