Israel holds key to fate of EuroMed talks

Date: 08/04/1999

By Simon Taylor

FOREIGN ministers from the 15 EU countries and 12 Mediterranean states will meet in Stuttgart next week at a crucial time for prospects of a lasting peace in the Middle East.

The meeting takes place just weeks before 4 May - the date on which Yasser Arafat had threatened unilaterally to declare a Palestinian state, as he was allowed to do under the terms of the 1994 Oslo peace deal with the Israelis.

Had he done so, Jerusalem would have moved quickly to annex the Palestinian territories under its control, sparking an unparalleled outbreak of violence in the region.

This risk has, however, been averted by a courageous diplomatic gamble by EU governments.

While trying to avoid antagonising the Israelis ahead of the first round of elections in the country on 17 May, the Union decided to support the option of a separate Palestinian state in the future provided Arafat withdrew his threat to take the plunge on 4 May.

Although the declaration agreed by EU leaders at their summit in Berlin last month helped to persuade Arafat to postpone the move, the Israeli reaction to the Union's approach will be a crucial factor in determining the mood and outcome of the Stuttgart meeting.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, facing an uncertain future in the run-up to the elections, has already angrily attacked the EU's stance, accusing it of trying to "force a dangerous solution upon Israel that jeopardises its interests".

Union diplomats defend the Berlin declaration as a balanced attempt to strengthen Arafat politically while urging a settlement which both sides can accept.

" We did not want to weaken President Arafat," Miguel Moratinos, the EU's special envoy to the Middle East peace process, told European Voice. "Europe wanted to help him to reinforce his internal credibility in a difficult moment, while not weakening the Israeli position because we are calling for a negotiated solution."

Moratinos also rejects suggestions that setting a 12-month deadline for concluding the peace talks is unreasonable. "We are giving the parties more time to find a fair and just settlement. Some actors had been talking about six months," he said. He insisted a firm timetable was essential, warning that without one, "we will not give the parties a sense of urgency".

The diplomat said efforts were needed to ensure that the stalled progress in the peace talks, which have been on hold since last year, did not undermine the positive cooperation between EU governments and the 12 EuroMed countries when they meet in Stuttgart.

" We must see that the EuroMed process has a positive impact on the peace process and not that the stalemate in the peace process affects the EuroMed process," he insisted.

But the challenge set by the Barcelona process is so great that EU diplomats have set themselves only modest goals for the Stuttgart meeting. One official stressed that the fact that the 27 foreign ministers could sit down together and discuss sensitive issues such as security and terrorism was an achievement in itself. "If we allow the parties to express themselves, it will be a success," he added.

There are, however, some concrete objectives for next week's get-together.

EU officials and their Egyptian counterparts are working hard to resolve outstanding differences over human rights and the return of illegal immigrants so that a long-awaited accord can be struck in time for Stuttgart.

Officials also hope that a report of the work on a Charter for Peace and Stability, which deals with the thorny issues of anti-terrorism and police cooperation, will be included in the conclusions of the meeting as a sign of progress in this field.

But for all participants in the process, the main objective is to avoid Arab-Israeli tensions turning Stuttgart into a repeat of the embarrassing Malta meeting in 1997, when the lack of agreement among ministers meant that conclusions could only be finalised one month after the ministerial session.

" If we are lucky, we could get something like Palermo," said one official, referring to the EuroMed meeting in Sicily last year.