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7/28/06

Guardian Unlimited: Europe must lead the search for peace in the Middle East - by Paddy Ashdown



For the complete report go to Guardian Unlimited or click on this link

Europe must lead the search for peace in the Middle East - by Paddy Ashdown

The world is right to get nervous when the US is frustrated and Israel faces defeat. The EU needs to go its own way.

A ceasefire without the ingredients of a lasting peace and a willingness by both sides to observe it would place any intervening international force in an equally impossible position. If it were weak it would very quickly be turned into another Unprofor. If it were strong it would soon become an occupying force standing between the combatants and the war aims they had not yet forsaken.You can make peace only by talking to the other side. Would this mean a solution to Palestine? Of course it must, for this is the burning coal that lies at the heart of the fire. Would this be unwelcome in Washington at the moment? Probably. But not if, in the end, it provides a way out of the impasse in which they find themselves. Would this mean Europe embarking on its own course? Yes - but this is the right time to do it.

Europe's strategy now should be to widen the peace.

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