BRUSSELS (EJP)---EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will travel to the Middle East on Tuesday for a five-day visit to Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Territories before participating in the international conference for the reconstruction of Gaza in Sharm El-Sheikh on March 2.
He will be in Israel on Thursday and meet outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been tasked to form the new Israeli government, as well as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.
At the end the week, he will meet the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and US President Barack Obama’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell.
Solana, whose official title is EU’s High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, also plans to travel to Gaza where he will meet the UNRWA’s general commissioner, Karen Abu Ziyad, the UNRWA Director of Operations, John King, and members of the civil society and the banking sector, his office said.
Solana’s visit to the region comes as the EU seems more and more concerned about the position of a future Israeli coalition government led by Benjamin Netanyahu towards the Middle East peace process.
The European Union unofficially favours a large unity government in Israel because it fears that a narrow rightist coalition could undermine the “two-state solution” which lies at the heart of the European Mideast policy.
Immediately after the Israeli election last week, the EU made clear that it wanted to work with the new Israeli government “to achieve the most important goal of all, a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
“We hope that the new Israeli government will honour the obligations taken by Israel under the Roadmap and at Annapolis and refrain from measures rendering a two-state solution impossible,” a statement from the Czech EU presidency stressed.
Last week, during a meeting with a European Jewish delegation, European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering reiterated this position. “I have heard that Israel is not interested anymore in the two-state solution”, he said, calling on Israelis and Palestinians to come back to the peace process.
Addressing the European Parliament last Thursday, Javier Solana expressed the hope that the new Prime Minister and government of Israel “will be solid interlocutors for peace talks.”
On Friday, the European Union condemned Israel’s planned new settlement construction in the West Bank and called settlement activity “ a major obstacle to Mideast peace.”
And on Monday, at their monthly meeting in Brussels, EU foreign ministers insisted that a two-state solution “was the only option.”
"It's simply not possible to abandon this strategy of two states living side-by-side in peace and security," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.
"And I think Prime Minister-designate Netanyahu will follow such a strategy,” he added.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt voiced concern over conditions laid down by some political parties in the Israeli coalition talks.
He said the EU should send the new Israeli government a “strong signal” that any programme that breached previous commitments to the peace process would be unacceptable, he said.
Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra, whose country currently chairs the EU, said he expects a "bit of a rough start" if Benjamin Netanyahu becomes Israel's Prime Minister.
“There is no time to lose for the peace process,” he told journalists.
Israeli President Shimon Peres on Friday asked Netanyahu to form a new coalition after an inconclusive February 10 election.
Asked whether Netanyahu's nomination would be good for the peace process with the Palestinians, Vondra said: "That remains to be seen."
Netanyahu has said he would pursue peace with the Palestinians but shift the focus of the negotiations from statehood issues that have been proven difficult to resolve to more immediate economic and security concerns.
Netanyahu and Kadima leader Tzipi Livni agreed to hold further talks about a future government at their first meeting on Sunday since the election.
Labour leader Ehud Barak reaffirmed after meeting with Netanyahu that his party, which finished in fourth place in the election, would go into opposition.