"The peace process always has to be at the center of
whatever initiative is in the field," said EU foreign policy
chief Javier Solana when asked about U.S. proposals for
democratic reforms in Arab states.
A draft copy of the U.S. Greater Middle East Initiative
seen by Reuters shows the proposals focus on solving the
region's political, economic and social problems without
mentioning the Arab-Israeli conflict, which Arabs say lies at
the heart of the region's woes.
"Any idea about (reform of) nations would have to be in
parallel with putting a priority on the resolution of the peace
process, otherwise it will be very difficult to have success,"
Solana said after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites).
Senior State Department official Marc Grossman, visiting
Cairo on Tuesday, said the democracy plan should not depend on
a settlement of the Middle East conflict, but his host,
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, said the conflict
created tensions which complicated the process of reform.
Most Arab governments have been hostile to the U.S. plan,
saying reform should come from within and that the initiative
serves primarily the interests of the United States.
At the Arab League, where ministers are discussing the U.S.
plan, Secretary-General Amr Moussa said stability and security
threats from Israel were important for any reform.
"When you discuss the Greater Middle East you must discuss
its problems. You cannot ignore the issue of the Palestinians,
you cannot ignore the problem of weapons of mass destruction...
You cannot ignore the serious security issue," Moussa told
reporters after the first day of a regular ministerial meeting.
"Reform cannot wait for the Palestinian issue or any other
issue...But stability itself in the region is linked to solving
the Palestinian issue. Reform also requires stability," he
said.
Earlier Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin
Jabr al-Thani said the U.S. plan had some positive elements and
it would be wrong to dismiss it completely.
"We must look at this initiative in detail...instead of
using rejection, which we have used for the past 50 years and
which has not led to a result," he told reporters.
BUSH LESS ACTIVE IN MIDEAST
Solana said that although there was no mention of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the U.S. administration's Arab
reform initiative or in President Bush (news - web sites)'s State of the Union
speech, Bush remained interested in the peace process.
"I don't think that there is less (U.S.) interest in the
peace process...but the action is less intent," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s proposal to withdraw
from the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and dismantle most of the settlements there
could be positive if it were not unilateral, he said.
"The road map (the U.S.-backed peace plan) talks about
dismantling settlements, therefore that should be welcomed if
it is done within the process of the road map... That
means...you cannot dismantle settlements here and build
settlements over there," Solana told reporters.
He said the "road map" was not dead, and a meeting between
Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart remained a ray of hope
for the plan. "We think that a meeting between Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Ala is
fundamental."
