Lebanese President Emile Lahoud has called on the European Union to adopt an active Middle East policy and for an "initiative" from Brussels to end the bloodshed in the Palestinian territories.
Lahoud said the "European position in general, and the French stand in particular, are compatible with long-held Lebanese demands for achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the region."
Such a peace should be based on the land-for-peace principle of the 1991 Madrid conference that launched the Middle East peace process as well as international resolutions, "contrary to the hostile Israeli position which is seen every day in the occupied Palestinian territories, with killings, destructions, displacements, and with violations of Lebanon's air, land and sea sovereignty."
Lahoud said the positions of "French President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine reflect an accurate understanding of the situation in the Middle East region, which is clearly different from the American policy."
After a two-day retreat in western Spain, EU foreign ministers renewed their determination to play an active role to help end 16 months of Israeli-Palestinian strife.
The EU foreign ministers particularly called for politics and security to go hand in hand in the quest to end the crisis - a strategy rejected by Israel and US President George W. Bush who insist on putting security first by demanding that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat cracks down first on extremists.
France has presented proposals to break the Middle East peace stalemate, including new elections in the Palestinian territories to cement Arafat's legitimacy and marginalise extremists, an offer also rejected by Washington.
AFP