Family photo of the European Union summit in Seville

SEVILLE, Spain, June 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - European Union leaders, deeply concerned by the escalation of unrest in the Middle East, want a quick return to talks and the establishment of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, diplomatic sources said Saturday, news agencies reported.

Leaders of the 15-nation bloc, meeting for a two-day summit in this southern city, will issue a call for a Palestinian state when they end talks Saturday on the grounds that it would ensure security for both sides within recognized borders, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The sources said that during discussions on the Middle East on Saturday, the leaders had reiterated the EU's support for proposals to quickly call an international conference involving the parties, the United States, the United Nations, the EU and Russia -- the so-called Quartet -- and other Arab and involved states.

The EU would also offer economic aid to peace-building, including the reconstruction of the Palestinian economy, and help in monitoring peace.

EU leaders, who opposed terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians as well Israeli military operations in the occupied territories, welcomed pledges by the Palestinian Authorities to reform their security apparatus, said AFP.

Earlier Friday, the EU's foreign policy chief had said the summit would call for a new political initiative in the Middle East to quell escalating violence.

"The message from the Europeans will be that we need a new political push, which might be an international conference or something else," Javier Solana, EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, said on arriving at the summit in this southern Spanish city.

"What form this takes is not that important," he said. "The important thing is that there be a political push, a perspective for getting out of the terrible situation in which we are now."

As the Israeli army pressed its occupation of West Bank cities, Solana said the summit here would probably adopt a formal declaration on the Middle East.

Solana said he had conferred by telephone Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on a speech to be given by President George W. Bush on the Middle East peace process, a speech that had been put on hold after the latest resistance operations.    

Meanwhile, the Palestinians called for swift U.S. and international intervention in the escalating Middle East conflict Friday amid concern over Israel's vow to pursue its reoccupation of Palestinian self-rule towns on the West Bank.

The Palestinian leadership renewed its call for international observers in the occupied territories, an idea with support in the international community but which has been repeatedly rejected by Israel as an "internationalization" of the 21-month conflict.

"We ask for the urgent sending of a international observer force in the territories to ensure the safety of the population," the leadership said in a statement carried by the official WAFA news agency.

It expressed its surprise at the "silence of the international community in the face of repeated Israeli attacks against the Palestinians."  

Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat also called for "immediate" U.S. and international intervention to end the Israeli reoccupation of Palestinian towns.

The United States and the world community "must intervene immediately to stop these aggressive military schemes and secure the (Israeli) withdrawal from the Palestinian territories immediately," Erakat told AFP.

He also accused Israeli authorities of committing "war crimes" following the death Friday of 10 Palestinians by Israeli fire in separate incidents on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"The Palestinian Authority holds the Israeli government responsible for the results of the escalation," Erakat said.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's top advisor, Nabil Abu Rudeina, urged U.S. President George W. Bush to announce his new Middle East peace strategy as soon as possible.

"Any delay is a disservice to the peace process and helps Israel which is accelerating its military escalation," Abu Rudeina told AFP, who also called for "urgent American and international intervention" in the crisis.

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