By Daisy Ayliffe - 28th March 2006
The EU has urged Israel to pursue all efforts for peace following the victory of Kadima in the Knesset elections.
Brussels has urged acting prime minister Ehud Olmert to move towards a negotiated settlement in the Middle East.
“I encouraged Olmert to pursue all efforts to move toward a peaceful, negotiated resolution of the Middle East conflict,” EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in a statement on Wednesday.
“I assured him the EU stands ready, as always, to offer all its support in this process.”
Olmert declared victory in the election on Wednesday and has vowed to push ahead with plans to define Israel’s final borders.
The Kadima leader told his party he was prepared to hold peace talks with the Palestinians but would act alone if he had to and establish permanent borders for Israel by 2010.
EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner urged Israel to remain focused on plans “to promote security and peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike”.
“Taken together with the recent Palestinian elections, the vote in Israel will have a shaping influence on the prospects for moving toward a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.
European leaders have also urged the country's new government to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.
British prime minister Tony Blair said Kadima's victory “changes the shape of Israeli politics”.
“I look forward to meeting him [Olmert] soon to discuss his plans to take the peace process forward. I urge all parties to pursue a path of positive engagement as set out by the quartet.”
French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said he believed the election result was “good news for peace”.
“Olmert is a man of unilateral policies ... he has always wanted to recognise the existence of two peoples, two states that live in security and peace one next to the other. This is good news for peace.”
The Kadima party was founded barely four months ago by the now coma-stricken Ariel Sharon.
The party looks set to take 28 of the 120 seats in parliament. Likud, winner of the last election, was beaten into fifth place with just 11 seats.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said the “result was expected”, but that Olmert should return to the internationally-backed roadmap peace plan and “abandon his unilateral plans to fix the borders”.
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