EU fears Iraq diversion from Palestinian prospects (EU shilling for Islam)

FT.com ^ | January 16 2005 | Daniel Dombey

[jb6]

The European Union is worried that Arab countries are so preoccupied with this month's election in Iraq that they will fail to take advantage of the prospects for peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

During a five-day trip to the Middle East last week, Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy representative, hailed Mahmoud Abbas, the new president of the Palestinian authority, as a "man of peace" who had rejected the use of violence.

He was also heartened by the emergence of a new Israeli coalition under Ariel Sharon committed to dismantling settlements on the Gaza Strip.

"We have to move the whole process faster," Mr Solana told the FT and Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung on the trip. "Otherwise Abu Mazen [Mr Abbas's other name] could quickly run into problems."

But a series of meetings with officials such as King Abdullah of Jordan, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, indicated that Arab leaders were most concerned about the possible destabilising effects of Iraq's elections. Many worry the elections could lead to a Iraqi Shia state and inter-ethnic tensions in their own countries.

In the last few days, President George W. Bush is thought to have telephoned Mr Mubarak to reassure him about the plans to hold the Iraqi elections on January 30. Karim Kawar, Jordan's ambassador to Washington, told a Nixon Center think-tank meeting last week that Jordan and others had not succeeded so far in persuading Iraq's main Sunni parties to drop their boycott of the elections.

He acknowledged there was a strong argument for not delaying the election, as this would play into the hands of the insurgents.

In comparison with such new tensions, the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems less urgent to many Arab leaders. Yet EU officials believe Arab countries have a vital play to role in convincing groups such as Hamas to move away from violence and increasing funding for Palestinian refugees. Such pressure may be all the more important in the wake of a recent attack in Gaza that led the Israeli government to break off contacts with the Palestinian Authority.

"Many Arab leaders have their attention divided between Iraq and the peace process," Mr Solana said last week in comments to Palestinian representatives in the Gaza Strip.

"The potential tension between Sunni and Shi'ite is taking up a lot of energy. It would be very bad if in a month we had forgotten about the elections here and were only thinking about the elections in Iraq - important as they are."

The EU is the biggest public donor to the Palestinians, but its influence in the conflict has been much less than that of the US, which provides Israel with security guarantees and funding. Mr Sharon's government regards the EU as a whole as biased towards the Palestinians and prefers to cultivate ties with individual leaders, such as Britain's Tony Blair and Italy's Silvio Berlusconi.

But many EU officials regard the Middle East as their top foreign policy priority, as well as the chief source of stress with the US. Many Palestinians would also like to see Europe applying much greater pressure.

Mr Solana believes that the EU's clout is increasing. He is one of the few leaders who has regularly visited all sides in the dispute and hopes to translate the EU's extensive commercial ties with Israel into greater political influence.

The EU would like Israel to give the Palestinians some concessions by July, when Palestinian parliamentary elections will determine the government Mr Abbas has to work with. It also insists that Mr Abbas makes progress towards building up a state.

EU officials are unsure whether Mr Sharon's plans to "disengage" from Gaza are intended to help bring about an end to the conflict or instead, as Dov Weissglass, an adviser to Mr Sharon, once said, to freeze the peace process.

But they fear that failure for Mr Sharon's plan would be disastrous for the prospects for peace.

[rickmichaels]

The European Union is worried that Arab countries are so preoccupied with this month's election in Iraq...

The only thing Arabs are preoccupied with is inventing new ways to slaughter infidels.

[GaryMontana]

I think Europe mises the days of Bergen-Belsen, Dacahu, Auschwitz etc. and the trains running on time.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Jan 10, 2005 - World leaders on Monday welcomed the election of Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian Authority president, saying it showed Palestinians want to reform their government and find a negotiated solution with Israel.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said his country and other European nations would do everything possible to help Abbas create an ``independent, viable and democratic'' Palestinian state.

``I trust that the Palestinian people will follow the path you have chosen of renouncing violence and carrying out comprehensive reforms,'' Schroeder wrote in a telegram to Abbas, whom he invited to visit Germany.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent a message to the Palestinian leader, looking forward to cooperation on achieving ``a just Palestinian-Israeli settlement on the basis of the 'road map' (peace plan) and resolutions of the UN Security Council.

``I am sure that your example of political experience will permit you to effectively perform the lofty mission entrusted to you by the Palestinian people,'' Putin wrote, according to his press office. - LINK