EU blueprint for Palestine post-Arafat

By David Cronin

Date: 10/11/04

EU foreign ministers are to be presented with a blueprint on helping Palestinians adjust to life without Yasser Arafat.

The strategy is being drawn up by Javier Solana, the high representative for foreign and security policy, and will focus on how the EU can contribute to security, institutional reform, economic recovery and holding elections across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

While a discussion on these four topics is anticipated for the next EU foreign ministers meeting (22-23 November), a firm commitment to help with an election for the post of Palestinian Authority president may be postponed. Under the authority's law, a period of 60 days has to elapse between the death of its president and the election of a successor.

Nevertheless, EU diplomats have been holding discussions with political figures in the Middle East to prepare for a future without Arafat, who is said to have suffered a brain haemorrhage. He was reported to be in a coma at a Paris hospital yesterday (9 November).

An aide to Solana said he had been in regular contact with Palestinian premier Ahmed Qorei, as well as former security chief Mohammed Dahlan, both of whom are seen as holding ambitions to succeed Arafat.

Solana's paper is to elaborate on an earlier one he presented to EU governments on

2 November, which suggested the EU embark on a programme to support "the rehabilitation and reform" of the Palestinian civil police, in tandem with neighbouring countries. The European Commission was tasked by EU leaders at last week's Brussels summit (4-5 November) with examining what finances could be made available for that purpose.

Prepared before Arafat's hospitalization, Solana's paper warned that the Middle East peace process was in a "state of paralysis" and that unless political progress occurred "the window for a two-state [Israel and Palestine] solution is closing fast".

Subsequently, George W. Bush has promised that striving for an independent Palestinian state would be one of the key foreign policy objectives of his second term as US president. Revitalizing the Middle East peace process will be one of the main items of discussion between Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, when the two men meet in Washington tomorrow (11 November).

Tamara Witties, a Middle East specialist with the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, said that as the main provider of aid to the Palestinians, the EU would have a significant role in organizing a presidential election. "While having senior Palestinian leaders managing affairs during Arafat's illness may suffice in providing temporary leadership, it is absolutely critical that a permanent succession is found in a legitimate and transparent way," she added.

Preview of General Affairs and External Relations Council on 22 and 23 November where Javier Solana, the High Representative for Foreign and Security policy, is expected to present Foreign Ministers with a blueprint on helping Palestinians adjust to life without Yasser Arafat. The strategy focusses on how the EU could contribute to security, institutional reform, economic recovery and holding elections across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.