EU ministers and their south Mediterranean counterparts talked economic cooperation in France Thursday against a tense backdrop of escalating Middle East bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians.
A first indication that the closed-door sessions were not all smiles and back-patting was an announcement that the Arab nations in the EuroMed group had refused to pose in the traditional "family photo" with Israeli acting foreign minister Shlomo Ben Ami.
Another was that an early morning bilateral between Ben Ami and Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa was cancelled at the last minute.
A meeting on the Middle East was scheduled for midday Thursday between the Arab Euromed members and the EU's so-called "troika" -- EU high representative for security and foreign policy Javier Solana, EU foreign affairs commissioner Chris Patten, and Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine of France, which holds the current EU presidency.
Thursday's working groups, dwelling on EU economic aid to non-EU Mediterranean countries, followed a charged opening session late Wednesday night in which Ben Ami and Palestinian Authority counterpart Nabil Shaath reportedly traded sharp accusations across the table.
Host Vedrine told reporters in diplo-speak that Ben Ami and Shaath had stated their respective positions on the on-going violence with "force and conviction."
Two Arab members of the five-year-old EuroMed partnership -- Syria and Lebanon -- are boycotting this meeting in protest at Israel's presence.
However Libya, a non-EuroMed member with "special guest" or observer status, did a last-minute turnabout and sent a six-member delegation after having vehemently refused to come a week ago.
Vedrine conceded that this fourth EuroMed meeting, which was to offer the southern Mediterranean partners a six-year MEDA-II aid package of 5.35 billion Euros (4.6 billion dollars), was being held in a "very unfavorable context."
He said Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's call Wednesday for a cease-fire was "a positive statement.
"Anything that moves in the direction of implementing the commitments of Sharm el-Sheikh by the Israelis and Palestinians... is good and encouraged by the European Union," said Vedrine, referring to a US-brokered meeting in Egypt last month attended by Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Middle East bloodshed that had taken 231 lives as of Thursday, mostly Palestinians, in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Israel since September 28, was stirring "disappointment, worry and anguish," said Vedrine
The peace process was crumbling into "a language of hatred and calculated or desperate acts of violence," he said, but added the EU remained convinced that "dialogue and a search for peace between Israelis and Palestinians" remained the only path to follow
Shaath said on his arrival that he intended to press for "active protection" against what he termed the "Israeli siege" in the Palestinian territories.
"We expect Europe to listen carefully to the Arab side, particularly to the Palestinians," he said -- MARSEILLE, France (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
