The European Union (EU) welcomed on Friday the renewed Arab peace initiative, described it as encouraging and said that it would continue to re-evaluate the outcome of the summit and the practices of the new Palestinian government.The EU also said that it would still bypass the new unity government and transfer the aid money directly to the Palestinian people, and the EU ministers will continue to “evaluate the intension of the new government”.
German Foreign Minister of the foreign policy of the EU, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said that the EU’s commitment to the peace process is a very important. Germany currently holds the EU’s presidency.
Meanwhile, EU Foreign Policy Chief, Javier Solana, briefed the participants of the EU meeting on the outcome of the Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia.
The Arab League renewed its peace plan that was presented in the Beirut Arab Summit in 2002; the plan calls for an Arab recognition of Israel in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied since 1967 including East Jerusalem, and calls for a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.
But Israel said that it would not accept the plan without “amendments”. Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said that there is no way that Israel can accept the Right of Return, and that Jerusalem would always be the united capital of Israel. Jerusalem is in fact located in the West Bank, which is under Israeli occupation but not actually part of what is now Israel.
Israel also rejects a full withdrawal from the occupied territories, and wants to force its unilaterally created borders which it is implementing through the construction of the illegal Wall which snakes deep into the West Bank to include the settlements, military posts and valuable natural resources.
