Israel dismisses EU peace initiative

Israel dismissed reports Thursday that Spain, France and Italy are preparing a new Middle East peace initiative, saying that at the most, they were discussing "some Spanish ideas."

"We cannot remain impassive in the face of the horror that continues to unfold before our eyes," Zapatero said.

Zapatero said the plan had five elements: an immediate cease-fire; formation by the Palestinians of a national unity government that could gain international recognition; an exchange of prisoners - including the three IDF soldiers whose kidnapping sparked the war in Lebanon and fighting in Gaza this summer; talks between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas; and an international mission in Gaza to monitor a cease-fire.

Eventually, a major international conference on Middle East peace should be held, he added, without saying if such a meeting should take place in Spain.

Middle East peace, Zapatero said, "is one of the factors that can contribute most to cornering fanaticism and terrorism."

But Israeli officials were unimpressed. "At the most what is being discussed are some Spanish ideas," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

JPost

Consensus is the key to solve the conflict and it would be about time that the US government would support such an initiative, unless Israel, the US did not reject the initiative yet, but supporting such a proposal would gain much Arab respect and increasing the chance of succeeding and send a strong message to the Israeli government to comply with international peace efforts.

On the other hand, both Palestine and Israel will never agree and continue to violate international rules, regardless of what the international community wants. Funny though, is that Iran and Hamas should comply with international rules, while no such a message is ever sent to Israel.


Edit: source

[edit on 17-11-2006 by Mdv2]

Not taking anything away from your post, as it is a good point, but this wasn't an EU initiative. It was the 3 countries acting alone, rather than with EU backing.

Stumason you're right. But I chose for EU rather than Spain,France and Italy to shorten the title, EU trio might be better.

Moreover, you've probably also read the following:

European states offer Middle East peace plan without UK

In a sign of growing frustration at diplomatic inaction as Israeli-Palestinian violence escalates, Spain, France and Italy yesterday unveiled a five-point peace initiative, taking Britain by surprise.

Downing Street confirmed last night that it had not been consulted and had no prior knowledge of the plan, which envisages a leading role for Europe in ending the conflict. Foreign Office sources said they had first learned of it from a news item on the BBC.

Guardian

One particular cause of frustration has been the American veto, last Saturday, of a security council resolution condemning Israel in the wake of an artillery attack in Gaza which killed 18 Palestinian civilians. France, a permanent member of the council, voted in favour, describing its text as "balanced", but Britain abstained.

Downing Street is shocked by this surprise. For some reason I can imagine why they didn't involve the UK, since it abstained from voting on the UN resolution condemning the Israeli attack on Gaza last week, while France voted for such a resolution (which was not, as Bolton said, ''biased'').

Not to forget that the UK and the country I live rejected a resolution last summer to force Israel to stop its brutal campaign in Lebanon. How could you take such parties serious?

I'm not surprised we have been left out the loop. We cannot be relied upon to be impartial. Blair would not even describe the IDF force used in Lebanon as disproportionate until right at the end, after everyone else had come out and said it. He and his cronies are so spineless it's disgusting.

I've read the text of last weekends resolution and it is fair and balanced. It calls on the PA to do alot and to stop the attacks as much as it calls upon the IDF to do the same.

Although the US veto is no surprise either. They might as well veto by default before even looking at any resolution to do with Israel.