By Daisy Ayliffe - 17th January 2006
The EU will work with any future Palestinian government that is ready to push the peace process forward, the European commission has pledged.
Visiting the region ahead of next week’s Palestinian elections, European External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner urged voters to make the most of the democratic process.
“We have done so much to support the preparation of these elections by the central electoral commission - indeed these elections could not have taken place without us,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.
“These elections are an important milestone on the road to democracy… effective, functioning, democratic Palestinian institutions are essential for the peace process. Without them we cannot lay the foundations for a viable Palestinian state living in peace with Israel.”
Appeal to moderates
Questioned over Hamas' strong showing in elections, Ferrerro Waldner told journalists she hoped the elections would bring leaders who are ready and able to revive the peace process.
“This is a testing moment for leaders in both Israel and the Palestinian territories,” she explained.
“I hope the elections due on both sides in the coming months help create a new impetus in the peace process.”
The EU is currently coordinating the biggest election observation mission in Palestine, committing 237 observers to the region but has warned this could end if radicals win the election.
Hamas warning
In December, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana threatened to freeze European aid to the Palestinian Authority if the militant Hamas group wins this month’s poll.
“It is very difficult that parties that do not condemn violence… without changing those positions can be partners for the future,” Solana told reporters.
“The taxpayers in the EU, members of the parliament of the EU, will not be in a position to sustain that type of political activity.”
Hamas is black-listed as a terrorist organisation by the EU, US and Israel and has backed the destruction of the Jewish state.
But in recent months the group has made gestures towards moderation and its infamous Israel policy was not included in its manifesto.
Olmert signals
EU pronouncements from the Middle East follow acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s statement that he hopes to start working on a final peace deal with the Palestinians.
In his first policy statement since taking the helm after Ariel Sharon’s stroke earlier this month, Olmert also hinted that Palestinians in Jerusalem might not always be under Israeli rule.
“I hope that after the January 25 Palestinian elections results are in, and after our election results are in, that I will able to enter into negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas… on a final status agreement between us and the Palestinians,” Olmert told a news conference on Tuesday.
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