Brussels,14/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - An Israel-Palestine peace agreement is “doable” within nine months, EU High Representative for the CFSP Javier Solana said in an interview with Reuters in Jericho on Tuesday 13 November. He went on to say, however, that it would not be easy, with tensions growing between the two sides' negotiators as the international conference on the creation of a Palestinian state approaches. The conference will be held next week in Annapolis (Maryland, United States) on the initiative of the Bush administration.
“What we have in mind now is to finish the (Israel-Palestine) agreement after Annapolis in, let's say, eight, nine months - during the period of time in which the administration, the present American administration, will stay in power,” Solana told Reuters. “It's doable. It requires political will. It requires effort. It's not easy. But it's doable,” he added.
Solana acknowledged that tensions were rising between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators trying to come up with a draft joint document. This document is to address, in general terms, the main issues related to settling relations between Israel and Palestine definitively (fixing borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of the Palestinian refugees) and is to serve as a starting point for negotiations, planned for after Annapolis, on the creation of a Palestinian state. “We're at a very important moment,” Solana said. He went on, “As we approach the beginning of the process, there will be some tensions. But I'm sure that this is going to be overcome”.
Solana also said that he felt that the issue of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel during the Six Day War in 1967 and claimed by Syria, should be included in the Annapolis agenda. Damascus has made it a precondition for its attendance at the conference. “We have to concentrate now on the track which is moving, which is the Palestinian track, without forgetting that peace will not be achieved until all the tracks are moving, that includes, of course, the Syrian and the Lebanese tracks,” Solana said. He added that he hoped the Annapolis conference would issue a statement in “that direction”. (F.B.)