EU deadlocked on Israeli ceasefire call
Tuesday, 01 Aug 2006 17:45
EU deadlocked on Israeli ceasefire call
The EU has failed to issue a unanimous call for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon by the Israeli army after its members could not agree on a draft statement.
Respective foreign ministers were in Brussels to draw up an official foreign policy stance but reports suggest that Britain was among the countries that rejected the 'instant' nature of any potential ceasefire declaration, which would in turn lead to a formal treaty.
Officials have instead called for violence to be halted, which has less political ramifications in the troubled Middle East region.
Tony Blair has consistently claimed that he supports an end to the violence in the Middle East but his comments have echoed that of US president George Bush and Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, in preferring to advocate an "enduring peace".
The British government has denied that the prime minister faces a cabinet revolt over his insistence to side with the US president's foreign policy in supporting Israel's sovereign right to defend its borders against Hizbullah militants.
But ministers Jack Straw and Hilary Benn have both been publicly critical of the west's failure to demand that Israel end military operations at once to allow humanitarian aid to reach Lebanese civilians.
Israel has been launching air strikes against suspected Hizbullah strongholds for 21 days but has not managed to bring a swift end to the conflict, despite its superior military resources.
Diplomats who wished to remain anonymous have indicated to news agencies that the UK, Germany, Czech Republic and Poland effectively blocked the EU statement calling for an immediate ceasefire as they could not agree on its wording.
Prior to today's meeting in Brussels, the Finnish foreign minister, Erkki Tuomioja, performing in the remit of his country's EU presidency, emphasised that it was "unacceptable for Israel to continue with its current policy".
Meanwhile, UK foreign secretary Margaret Beckett suggested in her comments as she arrived at the meeting that Britain could not support an immediate ceasefire.
"What we all have to achieve today is to get an agreement to call for an end of violence, to get the basis of a political agreement, to see whether we can get common ground on what could be the mandate and what could be the approach to deploy an international force," Ms Beckett told reporters.