EU slams killing of Hamas official, misuse of passports

(BRUSSELS) - EU foreign ministers voiced outrage Monday at the assassination of a Hamas chief and the use of fake European passports by the killers as they subjected their Israeli counterpart to a grilling.

"The killing of Mahmud al-Mabhuh in Dubai raises issues which are profoundly disturbing," the ministers said in a joint statement released after talks in Brussels.

The action "cannot be conducive to peace and stability in the Middle East," the 27 European Union nations insisted, without naming Israel.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband had no such qualms, urging Israeli leaders to give their "full cooperation" to an international investigation into the assassination.

Voicing "profound concern" after talks with Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, Miliband said leaders at "the highest level in Israel" had to cooperate with the probes in Dubai and among countries whose passports were used fraudulently.

Israel maintained there was nothing to link it to the killing in a Dubai hotel on January 20.

"There is no proof Israel is involved in this affair, and if somebody had presented any proof, aside from press stories, we would have reacted," Lieberman said in a statement from his office.

The EU focused its ire on the use of European passports by the killers.

"We strongly condemn the use of fraudulent EU member states' passports and credit cards acquired through the theft of EU citizens' identities," they said.

Britain, Ireland, France and Germany -- whose faked or stolen passports were involved -- last week called in Israeli envoys for talks at their foreign ministries.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said Monday the culprits must be punished, stressing that political assassinations "have no place in the 21st century."

Mabhuh, a founder of Hamas' armed wing, was found dead in his hotel room in Dubai on January 20.

Dubai police, accusing Mossad, released the names and photos of 11 suspects who entered the United Arab Emirates on the European passports.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said Lieberman had given him no "assurances" that Israel was innocent of involvement in the assassination.

"He did not deny," Martin told reporters after meeting Lieberman, when he pressed the Israeli minister to guarantee that the Jewish state had no involvement in the killing.

In Paris, President Nicolas Sarkozy unreservedly condemned the assassination, speaking at a joint press conference with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

"The condemnation by France of what is nothing more than a murder. It's clear, simple and precise," Sarkozy said, without directly accusing any government.

However, the European critics weren't ready to go beyond verbal protests, at a time of international efforts to revive the Middle East peace talks, one diplomat said.

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 recognise Palestine even before it has reached an agreement with Israel on a definitive border.

EU Foreign Affairs Council