EU: The European Union, the United States, the United Nations and Russia will meet later this month to discuss the future of their "road map" for peace in the Middle East following this week's agreement between the US and Israel. Denis Staunton reports from Tullamore.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said that the EU would use the meeting of this quartet to ensure that an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would be conducted according to conditions that would enhance the peace process.
Speaking after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Tullamore, Co Offaly, Mr Cowen repeated that the agreement between President Bush and Israel's Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon did not represent an alternative to the road map.
"The United States is not in conflict with Israel. Israel has to make peace with those it is in conflict with - in Palestine," he said.
Following a meeting with Mr Sharon in Washington on Wednesday, Mr Bush welcomed the Israeli prime minister's proposal to withdraw from Gaza but suggested that some Israeli settlements in the West Bank could remain following a resolution to the conflict.
Mr Bush also said that Palestinian refugees were likely to be settled in a future Palestinian state rather than in Israel.
The ministers will continue their discussion on the Middle East peace process this morning and are expected to agree an EU presidency statement on the situation there. Irish presidency officials said that the statement would be broader in scope than that issued in response to Wednesday's meeting. Mr Cowen moved yesterday to clarify Wednesday's statement, which he claimed had been misrepresented by some commentators and opposition spokesmen.
Mr Cowen spelt out the reservations many Europeans felt about the US-Israel initiative, questioning if it was helpful to seek agreement with one party to the conflict in advance of final status talks.
The External Relations Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, stressed that the EU would not recognise any change to Israel's pre-1967 borders in advance of a peace agreement and that all Israeli settlements in the occupied territories were illegal. "If there is a withdrawal from some settlements, that's welcome. But there has to be a withdrawal from all settlements," he said.
Germany's Foreign Minister Mr Joschka Fischer said that an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza represented an opportunity if it took place within the context of the road map but only if "the Palestinians had a place at the negotiating table".
The date of the quartet meeting has yet to be agreed, although the EU foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, said it was likely to be "around April 28th" in Berlin.
The ministers expressed concern about the security situation in Iraq, where European citizens have been taken hostage in recent days.
"Hostage-taking can never be justified and all hostages taken in Iraq must be released immediately and without harm," Mr Cowen said.
Officials said that the discussion on Iraq reflected a desire to put aside differences on the war and to focus on the future. The ministers endorsed the efforts of the UN envoy, Mr Lakhdar Brahimi, to draw up a plan for a transfer of sovereignty in Iraq, backed by a new UN Security Council resolution.
Mr Cowen said a new resolution would help to galvanise international support behind such a plan and offer Iraqis a sense of ownership over the process. "We want to see an orderly transfer of power to the Iraqis as soon as possible," he said.