The European Union and Israel agreed to strengthen ties today, but the EU side urged more progress on Middle East peace and criticised Israel for building more settlements in the occupied territories.
"The European Union is determined to develop a closer partnership with Israel," EU foreign ministers agreed in Luxembourg before meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, whose country is pressing for significantly closer ties.
Arab states and the Palestinian Authority have opposed this, objecting in particular to Israel's settlement programme in the occupied territories.
The EU ministers stressed that closer ties needed to be set in a context "which notably includes the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the implementation of the two-state solution," according to a text obtained by Reuters.
Livni told a news briefing after the talks the meeting marked a "new phase" in relations between Israel and the EU.
"It marks a new beginning ... it is an important milestone in EU-Israel relations," she said.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said it remained to be seen what linkage there would be between progress in the peace process and closer ties.
The EU text said the bloc wanted gradually to strengthen cooperation in areas such as social policy, give the hi-tech Israeli economy better access to the EU market and cooperate more closely on regulatory issues.
It raised the prospect of ministers meeting in the margins of the UN General Assembly and "ad hoc" meetings between the director-general of Israel's foreign ministry and EU ambassadors.
This fell short of Israeli proposals last year of regular EU-Israeli summits and meetings at ministerial level, in addition to current annual talks between foreign ministers.
Israel has a seven-year-old "association agreement" with the EU setting out a schedule of political meetings, regulating trade ties and areas of cooperation including internal security.
Reuters