Syrian President Bashar Al Assad urged the European Union to play a greater role in the Middle East during his meeting on Monday with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, reported AFP, citing the official SANA news agency.
Assad appealed for the EU to seize "an active role concerning all the parties" in the half-century Arab-Israeli conflict.
"Syria appreciates European action in the region, and considers its success in the common interest," he said.
Solana also met with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Shara on Monday to discuss the Mideast crisis and the Mitchell plan, on a tour that will also take him to Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian territories, according to reports.
AFP quoted Solana’s spokesman as saying that the top EU official would press for early implementation of the Mitchell report's recommendations during the tour.
The report by former US senator George Mitchell recommends an immediate ceasefire between Israeli and Palestinian forces, a freeze on the building of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, and confidence-building measures by both sides ahead of new talks.
A press release by Solana’s office said that during his tour in the region, “Solana will underline the engagement of the European Union with the search for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. The EU has reaffirmed that the implementation in its entirety of the Mitchell Report recommendations is the only way to overcome the current situation, to stop the escalation and to resume the political process.”
“The High Representative will urge all parties to refrain from taking actions that go against these recommendations and to start the ‘cooling-off’ period this week with the objective of resuming confidence between the two parties.”
On Friday, Solana condemned an attack on a Palestinian family near the West Bank town of Hebron, which left three dead, including a three-month-old baby, said AFP.
According to their press release, the EU ministers for foreign affairs support the creation of a third-party mechanism in order to boost the implementation of the Mitchell report's recommendations – Albawaba.com
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