EU leaders Friday were set to call for an urgent Israeli-Palestinian summit to halt the spiraling violence in the Middle East, according to the draft text of a statement obtained by AFP.
"For the Israeli prime minister and the president of the Palestinian Authority, there is no other path than the one of peace and negotiation" on the basis of the Camp David accords, the draft text said.
"Time is running out," added the French-language text. "EU heads of state and government call upon the parties to participate at a summit meeting to resume dialogue with all urgency."
Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, raised the possibility that the summit could take place in Egypt as early as Saturday, and that he hoped the EU would be represented, a Spanish official said.
Former Israeli leader Shimon Peres, now a minister in Prime Minister Ehud Barak's government, was present at the EU summit that opened Friday under tight security in this French Basque seaside town.
CNN television quoted Peres in Biarritz as also raising the possibility of a Saturday summit in Egypt.
The draft EU declaration said the European Union "fully supported" the ongoing efforts of UN Secretary General Yasser Arafat in the Middle East.
It added that the EU leaders were tasking EU foreign policy high representative Javier Solana -- who has been in the Middle East most of this week -- "to continue his mission in the region." -- BIARRITZ, France (AFP)
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