Brussels, 18/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the CFSP, who was congratulated during a conference at the Kennedy School in Boston on Thursday 17 September for the “US commitment to working with the European Union” for resolving major international issues, considers that there is “added value” in “working with Europe”. He cites the example of the Middle East, giving a concrete objective to this joint action, namely international security for the creation of a Palestinian state if the two parties do not manage to reach an acceptable solution, despite efforts currently deployed in Washington and Brussels. “George Mitchell is in the region. I was there a couple of weeks ago. We will meet over the weekend. We are working together to create a new dynamic of peace”, Solana says. The best way to achieve this is through mediation, and the parameters for peace are defined and well-known, he says, adding that, if the parties are unable to reach the solution on such bases, then “a solution backed by the international community should be put on the table”.
Javier Solana, who will remain in the United States for the UN General Assembly, sets out his idea that, after a “given time”, the UN Security Council should be called upon to vote on a resolution proclaiming the two-state solution. Such a solution would take the following parameters into account: - borders based on the 1967 delimitation, the fate of refugees, the status of Jerusalem and security arrangements. The UN would then accept the Palestinian state among its members and create a timetable for its establishment. The resolution should also provide a mandate for settling the remaining territorial conflicts (Ed: no doubt on the Golan Heights for which indirect Syrian-Israeli talks are expected to begin in the near future under the aegis of Turkey), concluding with officialising the final borders. The Arab countries must be actively involved in this in line with their commitments taken as part of the “Arab Peace Initiative”.
In Israel, if one is to believe the daily Yediot Aharonot of 17 September, optimism is on the wane after the relative failure of Mr Mitchell's talks. “The crisis in talks between Israel, the Palestinians and the Americans casts doubt on holding the tripartite summit which is to unfold on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly next week in New York”, the daily states, affirming that the “second meeting between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the US envoy ended on Wednesday without things moving forward”. What is more, it continues, there was disagreement over the agenda of the tripartite summit and the procedure for holding talks between Israel and the Palestinians, for which both parties are expected to announce the opening during the summit. On the Israeli side, the daily states, there is disappointment about the weak measures of normalisation that Americans have obtained from the Arab states. It points out that Mr Mitchell has left for another rapid visit of these countries to seek to extract from them new gestures of goodwill in exchange for stopping resettlement.
The EU Presidency confirmed the European commitment on Friday in a declaration alongside the United States, seeking a negotiated settlement on the basis of the two-state solution. It calls on Israel to put an “immediate” end to its policy of resettlement “including in East Jerusalem” and, with the Palestinians as well as with all Arab countries, to establish “confidence measures” and guarantees of security. The Presidency points out that humanitarian work is urgently needed in Gaza, that aid deliveries must be facilitated and that there must be free movement of goods and persons. (F.B./transl.jl)