Israel 'close' to Mid-East deal
Nicolas Sarkozy (centre) said he wanted to promote love not war
The Israeli and Palestinian leaders have expressed their optimism over the chances for peace at a summit of EU and Mediterranean rim nations in Paris.
...Leaders from 43 nations have launched the Union for the Mediterranean, which has ending conflict in the Middle East as one of its main priorities.
It will also tackle issues like immigration and pollution.
The summit's host, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said the aim was to see that the region was a place where people could love each other instead of making war.
Mr Sarkozy urged Middle Eastern countries involved in long-running conflicts to end the deadly spiral of war and violence, as European nations had done by making peace which each other during the 20th Century. He said the presidency of the European Union - which France currently holds - was committed to progress on Middle East peace...
...Mr Olmert said there would be "obstacles, problems, disagreements but we have never been as close to the possibility of coming to an agreement as we are today".
... Mr Abbas sounded a positive note ..."For the sake of our peoples, the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, the peoples of the Middle East and for the people of the world. Because we know that peace in the Middle East is the basis of peace in the world."
..The French president also asked Syria's leader Bashar Assad to use his ties with Iran to help resolve the international stand-off over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
..The French president also asked Syria's leader Bashar Assad to use his ties with Iran to help resolve the international stand-off over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Mr Sarkozy has long spearheaded the idea of a Union for the Mediterranean. Comprising 27 EU members with states from north Africa, the Balkans, Israel and the Arab world, the new body membership will include 756m people from Western Europe to the Jordanian desert.
He recently claimed the grouping could transform the Mediterranean region into an area of peace and prosperity....
However this, from The New York Times, 14/7/08, was a little more careful with the details:
PARIS — Leaders of 43 nations with nearly 800 million inhabitants inaugurated a new “Union for the Mediterranean” on Sunday, meant to bring the northern and southern countries that ring the sea closer together through practical projects dealing with the environment, climate, transport, immigration and policing.
...The Union for the Mediterranean is the brainchild of Mr. Sarkozy, but his original conception was watered down to include all members of the European Union, not just those along the Mediterranean seaboard. Nor does the new union have any political conditions for membership, sharply reducing the possibility of influencing policy changes or promoting more respect for human rights among the governments here.
...But leaders still disagree about where the headquarters will be and about the nationality of the union’s secretary-general, and some of its financing remains vague.
...While initial accomplishments are likely to be vague, the meeting marked an end to the diplomatic isolation of Mr. Assad, who has been ostracized for his alliance with Iran, his support for Palestinian groups classified by the United States and the European Union as terrorist, and his country’s alleged involvement in the 2005 assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri.
... Mr. Assad’s invitation to watch the Bastille Day military parade on Monday has also angered some in the French military, who have been deployed at times in Lebanon, France’s former colony and traditional ally, which Syria dominates, and who currently serve as United Nations peace-keepers there.
...the invitation to Mr. Assad, like an earlier one to the Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy, has reignited French domestic criticism of Mr. Sarkozy’s apparent failure to live up to his avowed “moral foreign policy.” When elected, he chose a noted rights advocate, Bernard Kouchner, as his foreign minister and created a new post of secretary of state for human rights.
...But Mr. Assad was vague about recognizing Lebanon, a country that Syria has dominated for decades and regards as a Syrian province. Syria has so far refused to demarcate a border with Lebanon, and Mr. Assad said that before mutual recognition, both countries must “define the steps to take to arrive at this stage.”
On Sunday, just before the union summit began, Mr. Sarkozy was host to Mr. Abbas and Mr. Olmert for another of their regular meetings to try to negotiate the principles for a peace deal.
...Senior Israeli officials said that progress was being made, but that hard political decisions remained for Mr. Abbas and the Palestinians. “It’s getting close to crunch time,” one official said, asking for anonymity following normal diplomatic practice.
...The Israeli officials said that peace was possible with Syria, but that Mr. Assad would have to decide to finish the negotiations in direct talks. Waiting for a new American president would be a mistake, the Israeli officials warned — because that would likely mean a new Israeli prime minister too, even if Mr. Olmert survives for the moment.
...The summit itself was a talkathon, held around a huge oval table in the majestic, glass-roofed Grand Palais. Mr. Sarkozy greeted each representative as their limousines arrived. Inside, Mr. Olmert made the rounds, but as he approached Mr. Assad, the Syrian turned away to talk to his interpreter, according to a photographer who was present. The Israeli representatives sat next to those of Italy and Greece; Syria was seated between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Later, just before Mr. Olmert was due to speak, Mr. Assad left the hall.
...The group spoke around limited topics on Sunday, with speeches limited by the large numbers attending. A summit declaration proposed projects like solar energy, reducing pollution of the sea and student exchanges. Heads of state of the union’s member nations are supposed to meet every two years, and their foreign ministers every year. The Arab League, which wanted full membership, will instead be considered a “permanent observer.” The meeting was followed by a formal dinner at the Elysee, with seating at small tables carefully negotiated by French diplomats.
German chancellor Angela Merkel, who insisted that the Sarkozy project include all European Union members and not just those bordering the Mediterranean, said pointedly that the summit “was a very, very good start for a new phase in the cooperation” between Europe and the south, a reference to the so-called Barcelona process set up after the Oslo peace accords. The European Union in fact calls this: “Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean.”
“The summit is a nice event, but will the union find an independent life?” one senior diplomat from a southern country asked, noting that the Barcelona process, like Oslo, had run out of gas. “It would be a shame to have a second version of the Barcelona process,” the diplomat said. “Sarkozy’s original idea was bold, but there’s not much of it left.”
[...as they say in Hollywood - underneath all that tinsel and glitter...there's MORE tinsel and glitter ....]
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