EU, ME leaders meet to kick start peace moves
At talks in Brussels, from 1700 GMT, the ministers will assess the
state of the ceasefire Gaza, where more than 1,300 Palestinians have
been killed by Israeli forces since last month, and look at ways to
improve the flow of aid.
But beyond the immediate help needed by Gaza residents, the EU wants
to try to use Israel’s war on Hamas to kick start long-stalled efforts
to bring peace to the region, and foster an agreement between the
feuding Palestinians.
“We want to talk to the four of them about how do we get the region
behind a meaningful peace process. We need the broader support of the
Arab world,” an EU diplomat said ahead of the talks. “Some of those
countries are bridges to other countries in the Arab world or the Muslim
world, like Syria or Iran,” the latter accused of supplying arms to
Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, he said.
Some 5,300 people were also wounded in Israel’s land, sea and air
assault, Operation Cast Lead, launched on December 27 in the
impoverished coastal strip to stop Hamas firing rockets at Israeli
civilians.
Sunday, AFP |