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Occupation
of Palestinian Territories Hinders Elections: French FM
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| “It
is difficult to imagine that in the context of the Israeli
occupation elections can be easily held”: de Villepin |
DAMASCUS,
July 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - French Foreign Minister
Dominique de Villepin warned Saturday, July 6, that the Israeli
re-occupation of Palestinian autonomous areas is a stumbling block to
new elections there, as he visited Syria on a Middle East tour aimed
at reviving Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.
He
also urged restraint on the Lebanese-Israeli border to avoid risks of
a wider conflict drawing in the whole region.
“It
is difficult to imagine that in the context of the Israeli occupation
elections can be easily held,” de Villepin told reporters, referring
to Israel’s re-occupation of most of the main towns in the West Bank
since mid-June.
“But
means to hold these elections must be found,” he added, saying it
was “important for the credibility of the Palestinian partner. We
need, next to the state of Israel, to have these partners that will
quickly give credibility to a Palestinian state.”
De
Villepin, who held talks with President Bashar Al-Assad and his
counterpart Faruq Al-Shara, repeated that France supported an
international Middle East conference as the best means for a political
solution to the 21-month crisis.
He
added that the Palestinian authority was on the right track in
implementing needed reforms, but that faced with a “worsening
situation”, it was “urgent to re-launch peace efforts on all
tracks.”
De
Villepin urged the “greatest restraint” on the Lebanese-Israeli
border, which has seen recurrent exchanges of fire in the past few
months between Syrian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Israeli
soldiers in the occupied Shebaa Farms region.
The
originally Syrian Shebaa Farms were occupied by Israel in the 1967
Arab-Israeli war but are now claimed by Lebanon with Syrian consent.
“Nobody’s
interests would be served by an escalation whose human, economic and
political costs would be devastating”, he said.
In
Beirut on Friday, July 5, the minister said the European Union was
examining whether to follow Washington’s example and add the Shiite
Muslim Hezbollah movement to its list of terrorist organizations.
But
he hailed Syria’s “determination in fighting against global
terrorism”, and said “Syria is a fundamental partner for France
and Europe.”
In
mid-June, the United States sent diplomatic messages to Syria, Iran
and Lebanon, urging them to rein in Hezbollah.
For
his part, Shara said that the two countries would “follow up
contacts between the two foreign ministries on the question of Middle
East peace.”
De
Villepin, on his second tour on the Middle East in less than two
weeks, arrived in Jordan later Saturday, and is expected to return to
France on Sunday.
The
official Syrian press Saturday welcomed what it saw as increased
French and European determination to push for a political solution in
the Middle East.
“The
Arabs wish the Europeans today would redouble their efforts, speak and
defend liberty and give priority to justice,” the Syrian daily
newspaper, Tishrin, wrote.
France,
along with other European countries, distanced itself from US
President George W. Bush's speech on June 24, in which he called for
the ouster of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. French official
consider him legitimate until elections decide otherwise.
However,
Damascus is skeptical on the prospects on a Middle East peace
conference, and has not supported the Palestinian-Israeli peace
process signed in 1993 since the beginning.
Syrian
leaders have consistently said that for a solution in the Middle East,
Israel must withdraw from the territories it occupied in 1967 in line
with U.N. resolutions.
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