There are serious efforts to place the direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations on track, as possible alternatives are put on the table, reports Doaa El-Bey The Israeli insistence on building more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories prompted Egypt to declare that the Arab nation may seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state. Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit stated that if Israel continued to build settlements in the West Bank, Egypt and other Arab countries might seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state. "If Israel does not respect the settlements freeze, the Arab League will study some other options aside from the peace process such as going to the United Nations to ask for the recognition of a Palestinian state... and also to give it a legitimate seat in the General Assembly," Abul-Gheit said on the sidelines of a meeting of Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP), hosted by the EU in Brussels on Friday. The move came in an attempt to seek new horizons for the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel. Abul-Gheit said an Arab League request to the UN might be issued as early as next month. Abul-Gheit's call seeking UN recognition came after Israel's government approved the building of 238 new housing units in East Jerusalem, a move which further jeopardised the uncertain resumption of the direct negotiations. Many Arab states supported Abul-Gheit especially after Tel Aviv refused to give peace a chance by extending a ban on settlement building. In another blow to peace, Tel Aviv declared this week that the planned peace summit in Paris between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had been postponed. President Hosni Mubarak was also supposed to attend the meeting. Abul-Gheit held a meeting with the foreign ministers of France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK as well as EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton at the Egyptian Embassy in Brussels. The meeting aimed at exchanging points of view with the European side on the latest developments in the Middle East especially efforts exerted to save the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry Hossam Zaki said in a press briefing after the meeting. In the meeting, Abul-Gheit expressed Egypt's concern over "Israel's indifference" to exerted peace efforts and asserted the importance of an effective European role to support US efforts in achieving peace in the region. The issue of a bigger European role was also raised during the meeting between Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany last week and the Italian Foreign Undersecretary Stefania Craxi in Cairo this week. Moussa looked into the latest deadlock in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations with both officials. He also pointed out alternatives to peace negotiations that the Arab states are considering. Mohamed Bassiouni, Egypt's former ambassador to Israel, said "we still have the rest of the month that the Arab League has given to the US to push Israel to stop its settlement building activities before we look for alternatives." That month would give the US the chance to focus on the mid-term elections due 2 November. "But after that, the ball is in the US court. It should try to reach a formula with Tel Aviv to stop building more settlements in order to restart the direct negotiations with the Palestinians," Bassiouni told Al-Ahram Weekly. US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian direct talks resumed last month after a break of nearly two years. But they are already in limbo over Israel's refusal to renew a 10-month freeze on West Bank settlement construction. Backed by the Arab League the Palestinians have pledged not to return to direct talks without a full settlement construction freeze, but have given the US a month to come up with a way to break the impasse. However, Bassiouni said, there are other alternatives if nothing comes up at the end of the month or if the Israelis refuse to freeze settlement building or fail to reach an agreement with the Palestinians. These alternatives include seeking UN recognition of a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967, as well as US recognition of such a move. Putting the Palestinian territories under international supervision until a peace agreement is reached is another alternative. "The failure to reach an agreement could lead to the eruption of a new Intifada. However, we hope that Israel would stop its settlement activities and the two parties reach an agreement via peaceful negotiations," Bassiouni added. Calls for a peaceful settlement were also reiterated by a delegation of the Elders Group, chaired by the former Irish president Mary Robinson who paid the region a visit this week. It aimed to mobilise support for the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process. The group also visited Gaza to assess the impact of the Israeli closure. The group which included Indian activist Ela Bhatt and former UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met Abul-Gheit and Moussa in Cairo, the first leg of their tour. They also visited the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel, Jordan and Syria.
