CAIRO: EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana arrived in Egypt Tuesday to hold talks with Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa to lay the groundwork for the upcoming US-sponsored peace conference due to take place in Washington in November.
The regional tour – which included Lebanon, Jordan and Israel – began Monday. Solana met with Moussa over dinner late Tuesday before meeting Aboul Gheit the following day.
The topic being discussed with the Egyptian officials was boosting the Arab-Israeli peace process, the issue set to take center stage at the Washington conference.
President Hosni Mubarak had asked for a “clear agenda and framework while meeting Jordan’s King Abdallah, Quartet Envoy Tony Blair and Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema on Tuesday, and warned that the conference “should not be a lost opportunity added to the list of previous lost opportunities, presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad told reporters.
Arab foreign ministers met on Wednesday at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo to exchange views on the conference.
Speaking with Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdel Illah Al-Khatib, Aboul Gheit said “there must be a clear understanding of what this meeting is about . there is a small window of opportunity in which we have a lot to achieve.
Thus, “there is a need for progress between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of the meeting to decide on broad principles, and the details can be discussed at the meeting, he added.
While Solana was in Jerusalem Monday, he reiterated the EU stance of not negotiating with Hamas a part of the peace process, as they are considered a terrorist organization by the European body.
Speaking at a conference after meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Solana said that the EU hadn’t reneged on its previous demands that Hamas recognize Israel, lay down their weapons and accept previous peace agreements. Italian Foreign Minister D’Alema said that “national reconciliation is absolutely necessary for the Palestinians because nobody wants two Palestinian states, referring to the Hamas-Fatah schism that has divided the Palestinian territories.
While in Lebanon on Tuesday, Solana affirmed that the EU supports a Lebanese presidential election in line with the beleaguered country’s constitution. Presidential elections to find a successor for Emile Lahoud are due to take place in the Lebanese parliament on September 25.
Solana began his Mideast tour in Jordan on Monday where he held talks with the country’s Foreign Minister Al-Khatib.
An EU spokeswoman from Solana’s office told AFP that the EU foreign policy chief was “going to exchange points of view on the meeting. We can’t let the conference fail and we should work to make it succeed.
“His message for the region is that we have an opportunity for peace now and it should be seized by all parties and that we should be realistic and cautiously optimistic about peace in the Middle East, she added.
