PALESTINE-ISRAEL: Sharon Blocks EU Mission’s Meeting with Arafat

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, Apr 4 2002 (IPS) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel prevented Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from meeting Thursday with a high-level mission sent by the European Union (EU), which said it would nonetheless continue its mediation efforts in the Middle East.

Sharon told Prime Minister José María Aznar of Spain, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, by phone Wednesday that he would not be allowed to meet with Arafat in Ramallah, the West Bank town where the Palestinian leader is besieged in his headquarters by Israeli troops.

The EU is pressing Israel to call off its military operation against Palestine and return to the negotiating table, in compliance with United Nations Security Council resolutions. France, meanwhile, proposed on Thursday sending an urgent UN peacekeeping mission to the area.

The EU delegation, which met Thursday in Tel Aviv with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, was refused permission to visit Arafat, and thus decided to cancel its scheduled meeting with Sharon.

The mission is made up of three Spanish diplomats – Foreign Minister Josep Piqué, EU special envoy to the region Miguel Angel Moratinos, and EU foreign policy representative Javier Solana.

After calling off the meeting with Sharon, Piqué demanded immediate authorisation for the free transit of ambulances and all vehicles carrying doctors and patients, as well as a strict guarantee that no religious buildings would be targeted.

Aznar, who originally planned to head the mission himself, sent Piqué in his place when Sharon told him he would not be permitted to meet with Arafat, the Spanish prime minister told the press Thursday.

The Israeli government argued that allowing Aznar to enter Ramallah would entail a lifting of the cordon around Arafat.

The Spanish prime minister reported that Sharon “considers maintaining his policy of total isolation of Yasser Arafat to be a matter of priority.” He described the Israeli leader’s decision as “mistaken.”

“It is important to distinguish the fight against terrorism…from what is occurring,” said the Spanish leader.

The EU is concerned, and “is making, and will continue to make, every effort to help find a solution to a situation which, if it continues as it has so far, has no way out,” said Aznar, who argued that Sharon’s policies were “not useful.”

“It is not a question of drawing up scenarios of good and bad guys or falsely assigning blame, but of changing a failed policy,” the Spanish prime minister added.

A solution to the conflict must emerge from “more solid and resolute positions” taken by the United States, and from a multilateral approach to peace in the Middle East, including efforts by the United States, the EU and Russia, he maintained.

Aznar added that Russia’s contribution to such efforts was “guaranteed.” Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov visited Madrid Tuesday.

Despite Sharon’s stance, Aznar said that as the head of the Spanish government, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, he would keep open the channels of dialogue “as long as necessary,” to push for a ceasefire and a resolution to the conflict.

He also condemned the Palestinian suicide bombings, which he termed “absolutely abhorrent.”

France proposed that the UN Security Council adopt a resolution to send an international peacekeeping mission to the Middle East.

The French delegation said in New York in the early hours of Thursday that the current situation was endangering the entire Middle Eastern region, and urged the Security Council to study the possibility of sending in observers.

That proposal, said France, is compatible with the suggestions set forth by General Anthony Zinni, the U.S. special envoy to the region.