EU President Denmark Friday called for a "realistic road map" toward Palestinian statehood to be drawn up quickly and said this would bolster the bloc’s so-far hapless drive for a Middle East peace conference.
In a paper seen by Reuters, Denmark proposed three stages with obligations on both Israel and the Palestinians leading up to the establishment of a Palestinian state in June 2005.
The target date was set by US President George W. Bush in a Middle East policy speech two months ago. But the four-page document, which was distributed to EU foreign ministers at a meeting in the Danish town of Elsinore, was not a plan in itself. Rather it was a "summary and synthesis" of proposals already aired by France, Germany, the Arab League and the International Crisis Group.
EU diplomats stated the document should help prepare a common EU position for a meeting of the peace-broking "Quartet" in New York in mid-September. It will also build on the stronger role the EU has at last found for itself in Middle East diplomacy through the Quartet, which also comprises of the United States, the UN and Russia.
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, whose country holds the EU presidency until the end of 2002, will visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel and the Palestinian territories early next week to review the timetable for Palestinian statehood. (Albawaba.com)
