EU: Israel needs Arafat as 'partner'

EU sympathy for Arafat is balanced with a call for him to do much more on terrorism

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Union foreign ministers have urged Israel to regard Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as a "partner" to work towards peace in the Mideast.

In a draft statement released during talks in Brussels and reported by Reuters, the EU ministers said Israel should recognise the Palestinian Authority as a necessary partner in the quest for peace.

"Israel needs the Palestinian Authority and its elected president, Yasser Arafat, as a partner to negotiate with both in order to eradicate terrorism and to work toward peace. Their capacity to fight terrorism must not be weakened," the EU said.

It said the Palestinian Authority "must do everything to put an end to terrorism and the armed intifada (uprising), dismantle all terrorist networks and arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of terrorist acts."

The ministers also repeated their call to Israel to pull its military forces out of Palestinian areas, halt its extrajudicial killings and lift its economic blockade on the Palestinians.

CNN's Robin Oakley said the EU ministers' statement argues that what is needed in the current crisis is "more Palestinian Authority, not less."

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He said the statement suggests Israel is wrong in its current policy of isolating and diminishing the Palestinian leader.

Oakley said the EU ministers also want Arafat to make clear the role of his administration in the recently seized arms shipment.

As the 15 EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday discussed the escalating violence in the Middle East, Sweden openly criticised the U.S. stance toward Arafat and said it risked exacerbating regional tensions.

At the weekend, President Bush said he was disappointed with Arafat's efforts to date in trying to halt the violence, sparking fears in Europe that Washington has all but given up on the Palestinian leader.

"I think it is very dangerous if the U.S. is supportive of the Israeli government and of the confrontation Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has tried to use in the latest weeks instead of supporting peace talks," Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh told Reuters as she arrived in Brussels.

"The only way to go forward is to continue the peace talks, and if we deny Arafat and deny the Palestinian Authority, we just increase the tensions in the region," Lindh said.

Solana: Backed the EU initative calling for more Palestinian Authority

"I think that is extremely worrying," she added. European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten echoed her concern, although he did not cite the United States by name.

"We can't just wish away either side in this Middle East peace process," he said in televised remarks.

"There is no alternative to the Mitchell plan," he added, referring to proposals by an international panel led by former Maine Sen. George Mitchell last year for a cease-fire to be followed by confidence-building measures and renewed peace talks.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine called for continuing EU engagement in Middle East peacemaking, telling his colleagues, "This is no time to give up."

The ministers were expected to issue a statement cataloguing the financial damage caused by Israel to projects in the Palestinian Authority funded by the European Union.

Diplomats said the statement was likely to fall short of France's demand for financial compensation for the reprisal damage, estimated by the European Commission at about $15 million.