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EU Links Israel Ties to Two-State Solution

By VOA News
16 March 2009

The European Union says its relations with Israel will depend on the Jewish state's commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged Israel's Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu Monday to craft a government that will embrace the long-standing goal of an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.

Netanyahu's Likud party Sunday secured its first coalition partner, the ultra-right Yisrael Beitenu party, which favors reducing the land available to Palestinians in any final settlement.

Israeli media report that Yisrael Beitenu secured leadership of the foreign ministry along with the ministries of internal security, infrastructure, tourism and integration of new immigrants.

Also Monday, a group of international war crimes experts called on the United Nations to look into allegations that both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip violated humanitarian law during their recent war.

Among those who signed an open letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the former chief prosecutor for war crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda Richard Goldstone.

Asked about the letter, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ban said he is waiting for a report from a board of inquiry he set up to look into a number of incidents during the conflict. She said Mr. Ban expects the investigation will be finished by the end of the month and he will decide then what, if any, further steps to take.

A spokesman for Israel's prime minister's office also was asked about the letter and repeated the Israeli position that the military "made every effort not to target innocent civilians."

In another development, Israel delayed a Cabinet meeting in order to give negotiators more time to work toward an agreement with Hamas on the release of an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

Two senior Israeli officials were sent to Cairo Saturday for talks with Egyptian mediators.

Separately, in other talks in Cairo, rival Palestinian factions agreed to hold presidential and legislative elections by the end of January 2010. An Arab League spokesman, Hesham Yussif, said Monday the talks are progressing but that the factions remain at odds over the issue of forming a unity government that would prepare for the polls.