Israel, Arabs Praise Peace 'Road Map'
at EU Talks
Mon
May 26, 2003 04:05 PM ET
By Karolos Grohmann
HERAKLION, Greece (Reuters) - The U.S.-backed peace plan
for the Middle East won praise from both Israeli and Arab
officials on Monday when they met on the holiday island of
Crete at a meeting organized by the European Union.
Diplomats said participants in the talks, held a day after
the Israeli cabinet approved the plan, sent out strong signals
that the "road map" to peace was a workable blueprint for
peace.
The plan was drafted by the United States, Russia, the
United Nations and the European Union, the so-called Quartet.
"We are at the start of a new era in the Middle East,"
Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher told reporters after
meeting his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom on the sidelines
of the EU-Mediterranean meeting which continues on Tuesday.
"The road map is very clear. I think it is do-able now that
the Israelis and Arabs have accepted it."
Palestinian leaders embraced the "road map," the most
ambitious peace blueprint in two years, last month.
U.S. officials said President Bush planned to meet the
Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers next week to discuss
the plan, possibly in Jordan's Red Sea port city Aqaba., and
might hold separate talks with other Arab leaders.
The plan's first phase calls for an immediate end to
Palestinian suicide bombings and requires Israel to freeze
settlement expansions and dismantle settlement outposts
erected since March 2001.
A BETTER FUTURE
"(The plan) can bring us a new future, a better future and
might bring a glimmer of hope in the region," Shalom said.
Shalom, who also met his counterparts from Morocco, Tunisia
and Egypt, said Arab countries were more "courageous" after
the toppling of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and could now
contribute more actively to peace in the region.
"I hope that today's meetings with Arab foreign ministers
will create a better atmosphere that will help them convince
the Palestinians to move forward for peace. Since the threat
of Saddam Hussein was removed they (Arab states) are more
courageous," he said.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the 15-nation
bloc would support efforts to implement the plan and called
for swift action. "Now what we need is...to make it (the road
map) begin to move," Solana said. "It has to be implemented."
He said the fact that Syria, Israel's long-time foe, had
sent its foreign minister to the meeting, after sending
low-level delegations for eight years, was a sign of hope.
"That is a sign that things are moving," he said.
Syria, accused by Israel of hosting and helping a range of
militant Palestinian factions, said it was ready for peace
talks but reiterated its long-standing position that the talks
would have to pick up where they left off, over the return of
the Golan heights seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East
war.
"Syria is ready to resume peace talks from where they
stopped and they must be based on Security Council resolutions
242 and 338 and... the principle of land for peace," Syrian
Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said.
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