Spain, France and Italy push Mid-East peace plan

Spain, France and Italy unveiled a five-point Middle East peace initiative today, calling Israeli-Palestinian violence intolerable and saying that Europe must take a lead role in ending the conflict.

Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced the plan at a summit with president Jacques Chirac of France. Italy is also on board, Zapatero said, and Spain hopes to win the endorsement of Britain and Germany and the broader European Union in the run-up to a December summit in Brussels.