RAMALLAH, 6 December 2004 — German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said yesterday he detected an historic opportunity to advance toward a Palestinian state as he reinforced international efforts to revive the Middle East peace process.
“This might be an historic opportunity to push forward the peace process in the next weeks and months in order to reach a two-state solution,” Fischer told reporters after talks with the new PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
“It’s very important that the suffering on both sides is ended. It is necessary to find a compromise between both sides.”
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos echoed Fischer’s enthusiasm, saying after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that there was “tremendous hope” for reviving the peace process.
“I myself have found from my meetings in the region that there is an atmosphere of hope, peace and commitment,” Moratinos told a news conference in Cairo, after his own talks in Israel and the West Bank last week.
“We came to several conclusions: That there is tremendous hope and a new atmosphere, a real opportunity, and we have to work hand in hand. We hope to arrive at a final solution as quickly as possible in which two states live side by side in peace and security: A state of Israel within internationally recognized borders and a viable, democratic Palestinian state.”
Fischer and Moratinos are the latest in a string of senior diplomats to try to revive the peace process following Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s death last month.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw have all held talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships in the last couple of weeks.
Abbas, who is contesting the Jan. 9 election to succeed Arafat, told the joint press conference with Fischer that he would continue to pursue Arafat’s quest to create an independent Palestinian state with a capital in east Jerusalem “living side by side with Israel in peace and security.”
Sharon meanwhile presided over the first Cabinet meeting in Israeli history yesterday with ministers from just one party after he sacked his last remaining coalition partner.
Meanwhile, Abbas and Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei are making the first visit by the Palestinian leadership to Syria since 1996 this week as part of efforts to open a new chapter in the often troubled relationship with Damascus.
Abbas and Qorei will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and the acting president of the Palestinian Authority, Rawhi Fattuh, for the trip today which will also feature talks in Syria with the overall leader of Hamas.
The visit is part of efforts to patch up ties between the two governments, which had been tense for years after disagreements between the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and former Syrian President Hafez Assad, who died in 2000.
“We have strong relations with our brothers in Syria,” Abbas told reporters last week. “Abu Ammar (Arafat) was always in touch with the Syrian leadership and if the circumstances had allowed, he would have made many more trips to Syria.”
The visit comes after similar trips to Amman and Cairo little over a week ago as Abbas, who is bidding to succeed Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority, tries to shore up support among regional leaders.
“We will explain to our Syrian brothers the developments in the aftermath of the death of Abu Ammar and we will discuss all the different issues that we have discussed with our brothers in Egypt and Jordan,” said Abbas.
According to Majdi Al-Khalidi, Shaath’s top aide, the visit follows “an official invitation from President Bashar Assad”.
“This is a very important visit as it is expected to pave the way to the normalizing of relations between Syria and the Palestinians,” he said.
Khalidi also said Abbas was likely to have a rare meeting with the overall leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, who heads the militant Islamist movement’s politburo in Damascus.
