Brussels, 10/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - The follow-up committee set up during the Arab summit in Riyadh (March 2007) to rally support for the Arab Peace Initiative from the international community, will be in Brussels on 14-15 May. The committee, headed by the Saudi foreign minister, who is also president-in-office of the Arab League Council, is composed of seven other ministers and the secretary general of the Arab League, and will meet in formal session with the EU Council of Ministers on Monday 14 May on the sidelines of its ordinary monthly meeting. Talks are scheduled to take place the same day, or the day after, with the European Parliament (the president and a number of political groups) and the president and members of the European Commission.
The Riyadh summit had decided to reactivate the Arab Peace Initiative adopted by the Arab summit in Beirut in 2002, which demands complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied since 1967 and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in exchange for formal recognition. The ministerial committee has been entrusted with the task of “reactivating” the diplomatic process with a series of meetings with “all parties concerned” by the Middle East Peace Process, including the UN and the members of the Quartet (United States, UN, Russia and European Union). During the recent meeting in the Saudi capital with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (see related article), the EU reaffirmed its support for the Arab Peace Initiative. (fb)