BRITAIN: In a sign of growing frustration at diplomatic inaction as Israeli-Palestinian violence escalates, Spain, France and Italy yesterday unveiled a five-point peace initiative, taking Britain by surprise.
Downing Street confirmed last night it had not been consulted and had no prior knowledge of the plan, which envisages a leading role for Europe in ending the conflict. Foreign Office sources said they first learned of it from a news item on the BBC.
Spain's prime minister, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, announced the initiative at a summit with Jacques Chirac, the French president, in the Catalan city of Girona, near the French border.
"We cannot remain impassive in the face of the horror that continues to unfold before our eyes," Mr Zapatero told a news conference after the meeting.
"Violence has reached a level of deterioration that requires determined, urgent action by the international community." Italy also backed the initiative, he added.
One particular cause of frustration has been the American veto, last Saturday, of a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel in the wake of an artillery attack in Gaza which killed 18 Palestinian civilians.
France, a permanent member of the council, voted in favour, describing its text as "balanced". Britain abstained.
The plan has five components: an immediate ceasefire; formation of a national unity government by the Palestinians that can gain international recognition; an exchange of prisoners, including the Israeli soldiers whose seizure sparked the war in Lebanon and fighting in Gaza this summer; talks between Israel's prime minister and the Palestinian president; and an international mission in Gaza to monitor a ceasefire.
In Rome, Italian prime minister Romano Prodi described the plan as "a series of actions aimed at achieving concrete results in a situation where suffering has reached intolerable levels", adding that it would use "as its starting point" the presence of international troops in the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. - (Guardian service and agencies)