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E.U. Calls on Arafat to "Dismantle" Hamas, Islamic Jihad
BRUSSELS, Dec. 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - European Union foreign ministers drafted a statement Monday calling on Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to dismantle Palestinian resistance groups and declare an end to the violent uprising against Israel, officials said.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said the 15-nation bloc called upon Arafat to dismantle resiatance organizations. The statement was the E.U.'s first such appeal to Arafat
The E.U. ministers also declared that Arafat's Palestinian Authority must expend all efforts to dismantle these two organizations, including the arrest and trial of those connected with Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas.
However, Vedrine cautioned that the European Union was were not siding with Israel. He and other officials said the E.U. statement would also urge the Israeli government to halt military operations against the Palestinian Authority.
E.U. foreign ministers met separately Monday with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath to discuss a way out of the latest flare-up of violence in the Middle East. There was little sign of progress, however.
After the two met separately with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who currently holds the E.U.'s rotating presidency, Peres complained of a lack of coherent leadership from the Palestinians.
For his part, Shaath said the Israelis were unwilling to seek a peaceful solution.
"It's a grim situation," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. "It requires restraint on both sides ... We are here to support a peace process but we can't activate one without the support and involvement of those on the ground."
Despite the pessimism, the E.U. stepped up its diplomatic drive to seek a ceasefire in the region. Javier Solana, the Union's foreign policy representative, was due to travel to the region later Monday to coordinate efforts with U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni.
E.U. officials said Solana would also meet Tuesday with rightwing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Arafat.
Solana joined Verhofstadt in his meeting with Peres and Shaath. Peres and Shaath did not meet face-to-face and they entered and left the room where the E.U. foreign ministers met through separate doors.
"The goal of the E.U. is to get both sides back around the negotiating table," Verhofstadt told reporters. This can only be achieved through a reduction in violence.
Although he called on Arafat to take additional initiatives to crackdown on resistance activists, he told the Israelis they had to deal with the Palestinian leader themselves.
Peres has complained that Arafat is failing to control Palestinian resistance factions.
"There are four armed groups pulling in different directions. It is impossible. There is need for central control," he told reporters.
Shaath said the Israelis were courting disaster by trying to push the Palestinians into submission through military force rather than seeking a negotiated solution.
International efforts to end 15 months of renewed violence were derailed just over a week ago when bombers from Hamas and Islamic Jihad killed 26 Israelis and wounded more than 200 others. Israeli then launched punishing airstrikes against Palestinian Authority targets in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
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