Jim O'Keeffe
Ceist:87 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his proposals directly, or through the European Union, to assist the re-establishment of the peace process in the Middle East. [6946/02]
Written Answers. - Middle East Peace Process.
The situation in the Middle East is a matter of grave concern to Ireland and our European Union partners. As I said to the press on 19 February, "Both sides know what needs to be done. They should take the necessary steps immediately and pursue security and political steps in parallel. No other solution is possible." This is even more the case today in the light of the further killings which have occurred over the past week.
Ireland has constantly urged the parties to resume negotiations towards a final settlement. The Mitchell Committee report and the Tenet ceasefire plan offer the best available means to get such negotiations underway. This is also the view of our European Union partners. Yesterday a debate took place in the Security Council of the UN on the situation in the Middle East. A draft resolution was tabled for the consideration of the Council. It contains a number of new elements including recognising that a Palestinian state must live beside Israel and that normal relations should be established between Israel and all its neighbours. Ireland's representatives in New York will work to achieve the widest possible support for this draft resolution in the Council.
Foreign Ministers of the European Union held an in depth discussion on the Middle East at our informal meeting at Caceres on 9 February. A range of ideas were presented by the Presidency and member states. These were further refined and considered again by the General Affairs Council on 18 February. At the Council it was decided that Mr. Javier Solana should visit the region to meet the parties and consider options for bringing forward the peace process and ending the current paralysis of trust.
Mr. Solana has been in the region for the past three days and has had a number of high level meetings. Today he will visit Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Abdullah and discuss the Prince's proposal for a comprehensive settlement of the Middle East problem based on Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967 and the establishment of normal relations between Israel and other states in the region. He will report to the member states in the next few days and we shall then consider what further role the European Union can play in assisting the parties towards implementation of the Tenet plan and the Mitchell Report.