Europe looks for Mideast breakthrough

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- The European Union has renewed its efforts to broker an end to Israeli-Palestinian violence and revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority by sending its envoy back to the region.

After meeting the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza, EU special envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos said that relations between the two sides were "a little bit better than in the last three or four weeks."

"We are trying to stop any kind of violence," said Moratinos, who has been the EU's envoy since 1996.

"We have been extremely active and we have been supporting any effort in this direction and will continue to do so."

MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace     ALSO Mideast quieter, but no closer to peace

Arafat said after the meeting that he welcomed the EU's political and economic assistance.

"Europe is making great political, financial and economical efforts, in addition to their efforts in the United Nations, to help the Palestinian people," he said.

European representatives at the U.N. have continued to discuss the principle of an international presence in Palestinian territories.

The British ambassador to the U.N., Sir Jeremy Greenstock, said on Wednesday that a Palestinian proposal for a 2,000-member U.N. protection force was "an option that leads nowhere" as it was opposed by Israel.

But he said that most Security Council members agreed that a "neutral, third-party presence would have a de-escalatory impact" in violence-affected areas.

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