PARIS: President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday Paris would convene a new summit of the Mediterranean Union by year end on condition Israel freezes all settlement activity in the Palestinian territories.
Sarkozy, whose country co-chairs the regional group with Egypt, said he hoped ongoing talks between Israel and Washington would help secure a precise and total freeze on settlement and a relaunch of peace negotiations.
If progress is made, France and Egypt, in agreement with the Swedish presidency of the European Union and in concert with the United States, will call on all members of the Union for the Mediterranean to hold a second summit this autumn that would accompany the resumption of peace negotiations.
Sarkozy made the remarks in a speech to French ambassadors in Paris.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed during talks with US envoy George Mitchell Wednesday that meaningful talks must start with Palestinians, but there was no sign of progress on the vexed settlement issue.
Launched at a summit in Paris a year ago, the 43-member Mediterranean Union brings together EU members with states from north Africa, the Balkans, the Arab world and Israel in a bid to foster cooperation in one of the world s most volatile regions.
But like its regional predecessor, the Barcelona Process which stalled in large part over Arab-Israeli disputes, the Mediterranean Union got bogged down by Israel s attack on the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas missile strikes.
The initiative, championed by Sarkozy, resumed in June when environment ministers, including representatives from Israel and the Palestinian territories, met in Paris.
The union s priorities are to fight pollution in the Mediterranean, increase solar energy use, build land and sea highways and cooperate on higher education and research – joint projects which it is hoped would also help improve regional integration. -AFP
