The international community should be able to propose a Middle East peace initiative in a few days if the situation there remains calm, the European Union's foreign policy chief said today.
We need to have security on the ground if we want to move into the next step, which is the political initiative, Mr Javier Solana said.
"In a couple of days, in two or three days, if we see that the situation continues (to be calm), I think the international community should take an initiative to the parties so that we move into the next phase", Mr Solana told a news conference.
In Stockholm, the Swedish EU presidency revealed that the European Union and the United States were trying to draw up their first joint Middle East declaration.
We are trying to put together a joint declaration on the peace process, a foreign ministry official told reporters.
Israel said it was waiting for a ceasefire promised by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to take effect, but a gun battle waged yesterday in the Gaza Strip signalled it would take some time to calm tempers.
Mr Solana said there was a solid coalition of countries behind a Middle East peace plan outlined in the Mitchell commission report, which could form the basis for moving ahead to a peace initiative.
So the moment we have stability and calm on the ground, I think we should be able to move the process politically forward on that track. That is my dream, and in that sense that is the only way that I would use the word optimistic, he said.
Mr Solana's remarks on a visit to Helsinki followed his briefings with Finnish officials on preparations for the EU's June 15-16 Gothenburg summit, where he is due to present a report on how the bloc can support Middle East peace.