EU Envoy Calls for Resuming Mideast Peace Talks on All TracksEuropean Union (EU) Middle East special envoy Miguel Moratinos in Damsacus called for a resumption of peace talks on all tracks in the Middle East, March 31.After a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Faruk Shareh, Moratinos said that "the EU would like to see all of (concerned) parties return to peace talks as soon as possible, because we hold that there will be no durable peace in the region unless there is comprehensive peace." He expressed the EU concern over the measures adopted by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon against the Palestinian territories and termed the situation (in the territories) as "unacceptable." More than 430 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed and thousands more injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers over the past six months. Israel has imposed a siege of Palestinians self- rule areas. Sharon has insisted that he would not resume peace talks with the Palestinians until there is a substantive reduction of violence on the ground. The EU maintained that Israel should give up such policies and return to dialog and negotiation with the Palestinians, he stressed. Moratinos, who arrived here earlier Saturday, said that he had discussed with Shareh the Palestinian intifada (uprising) against Israeli aggressions, the results of the two-day Arab summit which concluded in Jordanian capital Amman Wednesday, and ways to promote ties between the EU and Syria. |
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