EU puts pressure on Mideast players

Arafat met with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, right, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency

By CNN European Political Editor Robin Oakley

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- With Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Brussels this week for talks on the Mediterranean economy, EU leaders stepped up pressure on both to revive the Middle East peace process.

Europe's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, was even-handed. Arafat had to do more, Solana told CNN, to curb the gunmen, while Israel had to get its troops out of Palestinian areas.

"There's no question that Mr. Arafat has to make an effort to control violence and that Mr. Sharon has to comply with the requirements to withdraw from zones A," Solana said.

Peres told journalists that he and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon were working on a peace plan and offered hope of more Israeli withdrawals.

EXTRA INFORMATION In-depth: Mideast Struggle for Peace    From Robin Oakley More analysis by CNN's European Political Editor

"If the Palestinians will appoint a man who will run the security in every place and put in jail the main troublemakers in every place, the three or four in every place, and look after security, we will be more than happy to leave," Peres said. But he ruled out any acceptance of international observers.

On Wednesday, Peres again voiced optimism that the peace process could be restarted.

"If things continue as they should, there is a good chance of restoring the peace process," he told reporters while in Paris after a meeting with French counterpart Hubert Vedrine.

"We are going to continue the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the territory," Reuters quoted Peres as saying. "If it is completed, maybe we can see a ceasefire in the whole of the West Bank."

In Brussels, Solana echoed the pledge by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer that Israel need not fear becoming a political victim of the coalition-building process in the Muslim world. Such an idea, he said, was nonsense.

"Everybody in the fight against terrorism, everybody in the civilised world, is in the same boat fighting terrorism, and so nobody should feel a victim of that battle but bin Laden and the terrorists," Solana said.

Verhofstadt also met with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, left

But while EU leaders have pointedly emphasised to Arafat how much money he gets from them in subsidies, there was criticism of Israel too.

"We do think the appalling economic circumstances in the West Bank and Gaza, that the economic blockade by Israel, that the non-payment of revenues by Israel to the Palestinian Authority, that these things make the security situation worse," said EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten.

"Throwing young men out of work, throwing people into poverty and ending business life don't promote stability in the Palestinian territories," Patten said.

There's been no breakthrough in the peace process while Peres and Arafat were in Brussels. But EU leaders who assist in paying his bills reckon they can help push Arafat into doing more against terrorism while the United States uses its clout there to nudge Israel into greater cooperation.

They'd like to see action soon. But they're not holding their breath.