EU Ready to Do Utmost to End Mideast Tension: French FMThe European Union (EU) is ready to do its utmost to end the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflicts and bring the two sides back to the negotiating table, visiting French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said Thursday, December 14.Vedrine made the remark following his talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Egyptian counterpart Amr Moussa Thursday, the state-run MENA news agency reported. Vedrine, whose country now chairs the rotating EU presidency, said that the EU will make efforts to promote the implementation of a truce accord reached between Israel and the Palestinians in Egypt's Red Sea resort Sharm el Sheikh on October 17. The EU encourages the political dialogue that would lead to the revival of real peace talks between the two sides and restart the peace process in the Middle East, said the French top diplomat. He termed the visit to the region by the US-led commission of inquiry into the causes of the Mideast violence "a good sign." Vedrine arrived in Cairo early Thursday as part of his regional tour to promote the EU's role in finding solutions to salvage the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. Egypt was the first leg of his Mideast tour, which will also take him to Palestinian self-rule areas, Israel and Jordan. Over 300 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed and thousands more injured in the 11-week bloody clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces, triggered by Israeli right-wing leader Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to the Islamic holy site Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem on September 28. |
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