Solana to brief EU ministers on Middle East conflict
MARK BEUNDERMAN
17.07.2006 @ 09:58 CET
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will on Monday brief the bloc's foreign ministers following a weekend trip to assess the escalating violence in Lebanon, while the latest move by Iran on its nuclear programme is also high on the ministers' agenda.
Mr Solana on Sunday (16 July) made a surprise visit to Lebanon amid heavy fighting between Israel and the Islamist Hizbollah movement.
EU chief diplomat Javier Solana - dispatched to Lebanon over the weekend (Photo: Austrian EU Presidency)
After talks with Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora, the EU's top diplomat called upon "those who have the possibility of influence" to press for an end to the violence and for the release of two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hizbollah, according to Reuters.
Lebanese political sources said that Mr Solana had not presented any specific proposal for a solution to the crisis, the agency writes.
Mr Solana, who was transported in a British military helicopter, will tell EU foreign ministers of his findings at meeting in Brussels with the agenda set to be dominated by the conflict in the Middle East.
Monday morning again saw bombardment by the Israeli air force of the Lebanese capital of Beirut and elsewhere in the country after Hizbollah-fired rockets killed eight people in the Israeli city of Haifa on Sunday.
The death toll of this month's violence stood at more than 200 on Monday morning - at least 180 in Lebanon and 24 in Israel – according to AP.
'Disproportionate violence'
Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja told the BBC on Thursday "The situation has undoubtedly elements of war. Israel has employed a disproportianate force, resulting in unnecessary loss of civilian lives and destruction of a civilian infrastructure."
France's president Jacques Chirac said over the weekend "One may well ask if there isn't today a kind of wish to destroy Lebanon" … "I find honestly - as all Europeans do - that the current reactions are totally disproportionate. In the Middle East we are currently in a situation of great fragility and instability."
Amnesty International said in a statement that EU foreign ministers should on Monday "review relations with Israel" which Brussels currently maintains under an Association Agreement.
"This review is necessary not just because Israel is systematically and deliberately breaching international law by targeting civilians." said Dick Oosting, Director of Amnesty International's EU Office.
But EU states holding strong ties with Israel, such as Germany and the Netherlands, are expected to resist moves and wording which risks offending the Israelis too much.
Meanwhile a meeting of G8 leaders yesterday focused it criticism on Hezbollah.
"These extremist elements and those that support them cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos," a G8 statement said adding "We call upon Israel to exercise utmost restraint."
Iran diplomacy
Foreign ministers will also find the thorny dossier of Iran's nuclear programme on their table.
Teheran said over the weekend in a surprise statement that an EU-designed compromise package, backed by the US, China and Russia, represents an "acceptable basis" for negotiations.
The package, drafted by Mr Solana in June and later endorsed by UN veto powers, includes the offer of non-military nuclear co-operation with Tehran.
Iran missed a 12 July deadline to respond officially to the package, prompting UN veto powers the US the UK, France, Russia and China to refer the file back to the UN Security Council.
US foreign secretary Condoleezza Rice said that despite Iran's reaction over the weekend, Tehran will still be referred to the top UN body.