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EU Med states call for Mideast peace conference

By Francois Murphy Mon Jul 9, 9:58 AM ET

PARIS (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of France, Italy, Spain and seven other European states called on Monday for an international conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and said Israel should make more concessions for peace.

Israeli officials said on Sunday that an Arab League delegation from Egypt and Jordan had proposed visiting Israel this week for long-delayed talks on an Arab peace initiative.

In an open letter to new big-power Middle East envoy Tony Blair, the foreign ministers of the EU's Mediterranean states -- Bulgaria, Cyprus, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Malta, Romania and Slovenia -- welcomed Arab states' efforts for peace following the stalled U.S.-backed "road map."

"The road map has failed. The status quo that has prevailed since 2000 is leading to nothing," the ministers said in their letter, published in French daily Le Monde.

The ministers said there was a need to "redefine our objectives," adding that Europe and the Quartet of Middle East mediators should firmly tell Israel to make more concessions in support of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel's cabinet agreed on Sunday to release 250 Palestinian prisoners in the latest attempt to strengthen the Western-backed president after Hamas's seizure of the Gaza Strip.

Abbas, a member of Fatah, disbanded a Hamas-led government and appointed an emergency government after Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip on June 14.

The ministers said one of their new objectives was "to obtain from Israel concrete and immediate measures in favor of Mahmoud Abbas.

"Among these, the transfer of all taxes due, the release of the thousands of prisoners who do not have blood on their hands, the release as well of the main Palestinian leaders to ensure succession within Fatah, a freeze in new settlements and the evacuation of unauthorized settlements," they said.

Israel has handed over only part of Palestinian tax revenues it has withheld since Hamas won election in 2006.

INTERNATIONAL FORCE

The ministers said another aim was to take into account Israel's need for security and consider creating an international force to impose a ceasefire among Palestinians, as Abbas has called for.

"The idea of a robust international force, of the NATO or U.N. Chapter VII kind, deserves to be examined," they said.

Chapter VII allows the use of force.

The 10 ministers who signed the letter are not as such part of the Quartet -- which is composed of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union -- but they influence the EU element.

"We know how inventive and resolute you are," the ministers told Blair in their letter.

"We are therefore certain you will deal with these problems in a global manner. Hence the importance of holding without delay an international conference including all the parties to the conflict," said the ministers, who met on Friday.

EU Med states call for Mideast peace conference (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070709/ts_nm/palestinians_israel_europeans_dc_1)