EU to reconsider renewing ties with PA
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner says it's 'time for us to start reflecting' on when to renew formal relations with Palestinians, hints EU to discuss matter in June
The EU should start reconsidering its stance towards the Palestinian Authority, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said Monday following a meeting with Arab League representatives in Brussels.
EU foreign ministers met with Arab counterparts for unprecedented talks in Belgium, with both sides keen to champion a revived Arab peace initiative for the Middle East which would lead to separate Israeli and Palestinian states living side-by-side.
Speaking of "positive signals" and progress towards the establishment of a "functioning" Palestinian government, Ferrero-Waldner said that it was "time for us to start reflecting" on when to renew formal relations, and hinted that the matter might be taken up at the next EU foreign ministers' meeting in June.
The European foreign ministers were at odds with the Arab league over how to handle the Palestinian government of national unity, which the EU refuses to deal with directly.
However the EU and Arab ministers disagreed totally over how to handle the Palestinian government, which the EU refuses to deal with formally due to the presence of members of the radical Islamist Hamas group, deemed a terrorist organization.
"I think it is very wrong," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told a joint press conference after the talks.
Arab League chief Amr Mussa went further, calling the European position "really unfair".
"It is now time to stop the restrictions that have been taken with no justification from the point of view of logic and fair policy," he said.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, sitting beside him, defended the European policy under which officials only deal formally with non-Hamas members of the Palestinian government.
The EU continues to send aid to the Palestinian people, but through a temporary mechanism set up for the purpose whereby the money bypasses the government.
"We are logical and we take the decision logically," he said. "I thought and still think that was the right decision to be taken".
Mussa spoke in conciliatory tones.
