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EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana speaks with the media on arrival for a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels, Monday Nov. 13, 2006. (AP)
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| By Associated Press November 13, 2006 |
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The European Union will insist that any new Palestinian unity government respects international demands to recognize Israel, renounce violence and commit to new peace talks, a top EU official said Monday.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner welcomed reports of an agreement between the militant group Hamas and Fatah on naming a U.S.-educated professor to head a new unity government.
At talks here, EU foreign ministers were to urge Hamas and Fatah to seek an "early engagement" of peace talks with Israel.
They remained divided however over how strong their criticism should be against Israel's military tactics in the Gaza Strip, which led to the deaths of 19 civilians last week.
Diplomats said Germany, Britain and the Czech Republic opposed publicly condemning Israel in a statement meant to be issued by foreign ministers later Monday.
Ireland, Sweden and Spain wanted to issue a stern declaration to criticize last week's Israeli military actions in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
The attack, which Israel said was unintentional, led to widespread international condemnation.
A draft statement, which still needs full backing of all 25 EU ministers, urges an "immediate cessation of violence" to calm down the situation and calls on Israel to "cease its military operations that endanger the Palestinian civilian population."
It adds that while it recognizes Israel's "legitimate right to self-defense," it urges it to "exercise utmost restraint" and not to respond to Palestinian militant rocket attacks with "disproportionate" measures that would contradict international humanitarian law.
A senior Hamas official in Damascus confirmed that Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction had agreed on naming Mohammed Shabir, as a way to meet international demands needed to lift a crippling aid boycott.
Ferrero-Waldner said that any new Palestinian government would have to prove to the EU and other key donors that it will live up to international demands it is serious on seeking peace with Israel.
"We will have to study the program ... everybody will have to look at the government first," she said. "Let's hope we can get a good government with which we can work."
The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said before the EU talks that he was optimistic a final unity government could be formed soon.
Abbas said Saturday he hoped a united government could be formed by the end of the month, leading to an end of the international aid boycott imposed when Hamas took over the government in March.
Western donors, led by the EU and the U.S., have cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Hamas-run Palestinian Authority. Israel has also suspended vital tax transfers to the Palestinians over its refusal to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and to accept past peace deals.
The boycott has left the Palestinian government in a cash crunch, unable to pay most salaries of some 165,000 employees, causing widespread hardship in Gaza and the West Bank.
Solana also briefed the EU ministers on his trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories two weeks ago. After concluding his six-day tour of the Middle East, the EU's top envoy said he was more skeptical than ever about prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
The EU ministers were also expected to extend their border assistance mission for the Gaza Rafah border crossing with Egypt for a further six months, after negotiations with Israel on a new agreement on how EU monitors will be able to work at the crossing.
Solana has put pressure on Israel to ensure the crossing, which has been closed by Israel for the most of the past four months, soon will be reopened regularly.
The Rafah passage, previously controlled by Israel, was handed to EU-supervised Palestinian control last year under a U.S.-brokered accord.
EU officials and diplomats increasingly fear that fighting between Fatah and Hamas supporters might lead to civil war in the Gaza Strip, which has suffered the brunt of the international boycott against the Hamas-led government.
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