MIDDLE EAST: European Union Foreign Policy Chief Solana meets Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana met various Israeli leaders in the coastal city of Tel Aviv on Thursday (October 26) as part of a series of meetings with regional leaders. Solana first met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to discuss the Iranian nuclear threat and other issues. "The world cannot afford a nuclear Iran, and there's need to take some steps in order to prevent them to achieve, or to master, the nuclear technology," Livni told reporters at a joint news conference with Solana after the two met in private. Solana has been responsible for the Iranian file in the EU and has been negotiating with Tehran, exerting major efforts to try and bring about a solution to the Iranian problem. "Being with the permanent membership of the security council, thus the European Union, we are working very hard. First trying to negotiate a packet that we offer to Iran that situation is not finished but is pretty close to being finished and you know that there are two routes one route is the negotiations and the other route is a security council resolution," Solana explained. Solana arrived in the Middle East on Wednesday (October 25) for a four-day visit and is expected to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and visit Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has accepted an invitation to Qatar for a conference on democracy a move that was criticized by many Arab countries who see a conflict between democracy and occupation. "And I'm thinking positively on going to Qatar at the beginning of next week. I think that it is important," Livni answered reporters in Tel Aviv. Later Solana met with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Defence Minister Amir Peretz. On Wednesday, Solana met with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and Far-right lawmaker Evigdor Lieberman. Lieberman is due to become a deputy minister and a minister of strategic affairs in Olmert's government as his Yisrael Beitenu faction, right wing party, is joining the government coalition. Solana's visit is aimed to concentrate in particular on efforts towards a resumption of long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, his office said in a statement. But peace talks collapsed in 2000 before the start of a Palestinian uprising and dimmed further when Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, took office last March after trouncing Abbas's Fatah movement in legislative elections. Both Abbas and Olmert have stated in the past they were willing to hold a summit. Such a gathering would be their first formal summit since Olmert took over as Israeli leader in January when former prime minister Ariel Sharon was felled by a massive stroke. The Palestinians accuse Israel of giving Abbas the cold shoulder before Hamas won elections. Some world leaders have said the recent war in Lebanon underscored the need for Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks to remove a major trigger for regional tensions. A U.S.-backed road map to peace has stalled with neither side meeting their obligations under phase one of the document which demands the Palestinians to start disarming militant groups and Israel to freeze building Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

ITN Source | October 27, 2006

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