EU's Solana favors jump to "endgame" in Middle East

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EU's Solana favors jump to "endgame" in Middle East
Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:35am ET14

By Talal Malik

CAIRO (Reuters) - The European Union joined Egypt, Jordan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday in suggesting that Middle East peace talks move straight to the disputes at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

For the past few years, peace attempts such as the "road map" of 2003 have concentrated on small confidence-building measures, leaving aside bigger questions such as the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a Palestinian state and refugees.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also said a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East mediators in February would try to find ways to ensure progress toward peace before the summer.

"What we would like to do with our friends is to know what is the endgame -- once we have the endgame, to know really how we can get there," Solana told a news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

"Endgame" is the diplomatic code for negotiating aspects of a lasting peace agreement between Israel and its neighbors.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this week she would bring Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert together in informal talks to discuss how to set up a Palestinian state.

A senior U.S. administration official, however, has said the meeting would not forsake the road map, raising doubts about Washington's commitment to accelerating the process.

The official, who was traveling with Rice during her Middle East tour that took her to Egypt and Israel among other countries, said the meeting was likely to take place in the Middle East within three to four weeks.

Rice said the three-way summit would focus on the "political horizon" that would ultimately lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Aboul Gheit said the U.S. top diplomat would return to the region in February.

"It has different names with different partners. With the Europeans it's "framework". With the Egyptians it's the "endgame". With the Americans it's "the political horizon". But the concept is almost one," Aboul Gheit told reporters.

Solana, who will also visit Israel and the Palestinian territories, said the European Union, a member of the quartet along with the United States, the United Nations and Russia, was serious about reviving the peace process.

"Please be assured the European Union is going to do its utmost to try and see if we can move the process forward in a real manner -- not just theoretically or rhetorically," he said.

EU's Solana favors jump to "endgame" in Middle East

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Egypt to press deal on Middle East "final status"

 CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt and Jordan will press for agreement on "final status" issues between Israel and the Palestinians, the Egyptian foreign minister said on Wednesday, days before a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told a news conference that the quest should take precedence over the Middle East peace plan known as the road map, announced by international mediators in 2003 but never fully implemented.

"There is a common position by Egypt, Jordan, the Arabs and the Palestinians calling for 'let us agree on the end of the road and let us agree on what we call...the endgame before we talk about the road map'," he said.

Egypt has floated the same idea before, but it did so this time two days before Rice leaves on a Middle East tour billed as another drive to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

For the past few years, peace moves have concentrated on trying to bring about small confidence-building measures, leaving aside bigger questions such as the borders of a future Palestinian state or the fate of Palestinian refugees.

The Egyptian campaign for a rethink, backed to some extent by Jordan, has made little difference to the policies of the United States, which continues to propose short-term measures by Israelis and Palestinians.

Aboul Gheit added: "The endgame has its specific concepts... Let's agree on the frameworks of the (peace) settlement. This is the Egyptian position." He did not elaborate.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib, who spoke at the same news conference, did not dispute the Egyptian minister's interpretation of Jordan's position.

"The final settlement is a Palestinian demand and an Arab demand, and there must be agreement on the final settlement whatever steps and stages it takes," Khatib added.

Egypt to press deal on Middle East "final status"