Europe pushes timetable for Middle East peace: ministers

(PARIS) - The foreign ministers of France and Spain said Monday that Europe would push for a tight timetable for a final round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

In a joint editorial published in the daily Le Monde, France's Bernard Kouchner and his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos said the talks should lead to the recognition of a Palestinian state.

But Kouchner did not repeat his comments over the weekend that suggested that Europe could recogise Palestine even before its has reached an agreement with Israel on the definitive border between the two.

"We need ... a fixed calendar of negotiations on the final status questions (security, borders, water, refugees and Jerusalem) and a serious framework mechanism, learning from past mistakes," the ministers wrote.

Kouchner, who met Palestinan Authority president Mahmud Abbas on Sunday, and Moratinos, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said Europe could host a peace summit that would define the proposed timetable.

"Moderates in both camps as well as donor nations need, in order to continue their efforts, to be rewarded with a real political prospect," they wrote.

Le Monde published the piece just as Abbas was due to meet France's President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on the second day of his visit.

On Sunday, Kouchner caused a minor diplomatic stir by suggesting, in a newspaper interview, that Europe not wait until a final agreement between Israel and the Palestinians before recognising a Palestinian state.

While not yet official policy, such a suggestion appears designed to pile pressure on Israel to make more concessions to the Palestinians.

Abbas has agreed in principle to a US proposal that he hold indirect talks with Israel under Washington's mediation, but has requested a number of guarantees.

Kouchner and Moratinos praised the US initiative, and the work of Washington envoy George Mitchell, but argued that Europe must now assume a greater role in the peace process in order to push for a quicker resolution.

"Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the Madrid conference, where the peace process began. There's no more time to lose. Europe must open the way," the ministers wrote.

The Palestinians broke off peace talks after Israel launched a devastating assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December 2008, and they insist on a halt to the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Abbas' prime minister Salam Fayyad has warned the Palestinians may declare independence and request international recognition even without a final peace deal with Israel.