European foreign ministers meet as crisis deepens

MIDDLE EAST: European Union foreign ministers, seeking to seize the Middle East peace initiative as Washington kept its low …

MIDDLE EAST: European Union foreign ministers, seeking to seize the Middle East peace initiative as Washington kept its low profile, met last night in Brussels in an urgent search for a solution to the fast-mounting violence.

The meeting was held as Israel pressed on with its military campaign, flatly rejecting EU calls for an international peace conference.

"It is clear that previous mediation has failed and we need new mediation," European Commission President Romano Prodi told a press conference in Brussels. "We need the US, the EU, the UN, moderate Arab states, the Israelis, the Palestinians and Russia around the same table," he said.

But a senior Israeli official immediately rebuffed the call, saying: "There is no point holding such a conference before we reach a real ceasefire on the ground that the Palestinians will respect. If such a conference were to take place at present, it would be focused solely on the fate of Yasser Arafat."

READ MORE

Last night France urged the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr José Maria Aznar, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, and the EU foreign policy representative, Mr Javier Solana, to go to the region and meet Mr Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon.

Mr Aznar reportedly spoke to French and German leaders and was due to hold talks with the British and French prime ministers.

Meanwhile the French Foreign Minister, Mr Hubert Védrine, warned that srael's actions could encourage thousands more Palestinian suicide attacks.

The Brussels meeting came after Russia, Spain, France and Switzerland called in Israeli ambassadors over the stepped-up offensive in the West Bank.

The Vatican also summoned the Israeli and US ambassadors and Arab League representatives to the Holy See to discuss peace initiatives as Israeli troops pinned down dozens of armed Palestinians in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, one of Christianity's holiest sites.

In a strongle worded statement the Vatican said Pope John Paul "rejects unjust conditions and humiliations imposed on the Palestinian people as well as the reprisals and revenge attacks which do nothing but feed the sense of frustration and hatred".

The Spanish Foreign Minister, Mr Josép Pique, said the meeting would allow Europe "to try to find a solution to stop the situation deteriorating to the point of no return."

The EU initiative emerged after a meeting in Madrid between Mr Pique and his Russian counterpart, Mr Igor Ivanov.