EU will try to restart Mideast peace process

THE EU will use the funeral of Yasser Arafat as an opportunity to restart the Middle East peace process and try to draw in US and Israeli support.

EU leaders at their summit in Brussels last week agreed a plan to get the road map back on track and gave foreign relations chief Javier Solana a free hand to achieve it.

Mr Solana will with foreign ministers from all the EU member states attend the funeral ceremony for the Palestinian president in Cairo today, but he will also travel to Ramallah, where the burial takes place tomorrow. He will present his condolences to the Palestinian leaders.

Tributes to 75-year-old Mr Arafat, who was pronounced dead in a Paris military hospital early yesterday morning, were paid by leaders across Europe and were mixed with expressions of encouragement to the Palestinians and to Israel to renew efforts for peace. A statement from the EU said the Palestinian people had lost an historic leader whose devotion and single-minded commitment to the Palestinian national cause was never in doubt.

It praised the Palestinian leadership for maintaining the functioning of the authority and pledged to work with them and the international community for a durable and just settlement of the conflict.

Mr Solana plans to spend several days in the Middle East, holding talks with Palestinian leaders from all sides and he also hopes to talk with Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Arial Sharon. Before he left for Cairo last night, he said: "contacts have started with the Palestinians and Israelis. It is too early to see what will be the next step. The European Union is going to work without delay to see how we can give an impulse to the peace process."

European leaders see the death of Mr Arafat as a time when the road map, backed by the US, the UN and Russia, could be pursued. He said: "We will do all we can to accelerate the peace process. The international community as a whole has to make an effort to bring to an end the suffering for the people of Palestine." Elections must be held for a new president over the next 60 days and, in the meantime, the Palestinian Authority will be under considerable pressure to maintain calm in the West Bank and Gaza.

"Everybody has to help the elections so that they can be calm, positive and constructive," added Mr Solana.

The next few weeks could prove vital to the success or failure of further peace efforts as a successor to Mr Arafat emerges. The EU is hoping that a person willing to work with the Israelis will emerge as leader.

Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei is to take charge of the Palestinian Authority, which governs much of Gaza and parts of the West Bank.

Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas takes over the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) that brings together most of the Palestinian factions.

Both these men are seen as moderates compared to Foreign Minister Farouk Kaddoumi, who in a surprise move, has been appointed to head the largest PLO faction, Fatah.