An EU official said Monday she hoped the Mideast summit in Annapolis, Maryland, will inspire Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to stay committed to peace after they go home.
''The two sides have been ready to engage with each other. There is good chemistry between Olmert and Abbas,'' said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
''This should translate into a launching moment'' for talks on such issues as final borders and the future of Jerusalem, she said.
''It is most important to keep up the momentum and launch this process now,'' Ferrero-Waldner said in a telephone interview from Annapolis.
''What we want to see is practical steps on the ground that are confidence-building gestures,'' she added. One such step, she suggested, would be a freeze on settlements by Israel.
She said the European Union, the largest donor of aid to the Palestinians, was participating in Tuesday's summit to stress its support of US peace efforts.
In 2007, the EU and its 27 member nations gave nearly $1.48 billion, most of it in humanitarian assistance for Palestinians who live under rival governments in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
If Tuesday's summit sets in motion steps toward peace, the EU will make aid available for more practical purposes: to assist the Palestinian police force and to reform the Palestinians' health, education and judiciary departments.
The EU will also help stoke economic growth and will continue humanitarian aid, Ferrero-Waldner said.
While it continues to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, the EU maintains an economic boycott of the Hamas militants who control the coastal strip.
The EU is ready ''to sustain our high level of support to the region. Hopefully, we will also be able to shift to post-conflict support, in due time,'' Ferrero-Waldner said.
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