Arab League Sec Gen meets EU Foreign Policy chief
(27 Jan 2009) SHOTLIST
1. Exterior of Fairmont hotel
2. European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana walking down stairs at hotel
3. Meeting between Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and Solana
4. Cutaway of cameraman
5. Moussa and Solana during news conference
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Javier Solana, European Union's foreign policy chief:
"We would like very much that the crossing would be open, we demand that immediately, for all the humanitarian aid and we would like very much also that the process that is being led by Egypt on the ceasefire and under the reconciliation among the Palestinians, will take a good route and we hope very much to have good news in a very short period of time. That will be a sign that things will move in the right direction with the political dynamics. As Mr. Moussa has said we have good news also from our American friends, they find that George Mitchell is in the region already, very few days after he has been nominated. He is a good friend of mine, a good friend of ours, he is a very honest man and we are very happy to continue working with him."
7. Cutaway of journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Amr Moussa, Arab League secretary general:
"The main issue is peace or the opportunity for peace. How to deal with the alarming problem of what is going on in the region, that of the Arab Israeli conflict, the Palestinian Israeli conflict and the issue of other Arab territories such as Syria and Lebanon, but that is a whole other dossier. We are going to get to work, or continue to work as it were, with the new (US) administration. We welcome the visit by George mItchell and hope that things will become clearer over the next few days."
STORYLINE
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, on Tuesday met the secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, as part of his tour of the Middle East region aimed at cementing a permanent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
Earlier in the day, Solana held talks with Egypt's president and foreign minister.
Following his talks with the Arab League chief, Solana said he hoped to have "good news in a very short time" on the Egypt-led ceasefire process.
Egypt is currently trying to negotiate a longer term arrangement to allow quiet in the coastal territory of 1.4 (m) million people, which has been ruled by Hamas since June 2007.
Israel wants an end to Hamas rocket attacks and guarantees that Hamas will be prevented from smuggling weapons into Gaza from Egypt.
Hamas has demanded that Israel and Egypt reopen Gaza's border crossings, which have been largely closed since Hamas took power.
The crossings are considered to be Gaza's economic lifeline.
Solana's mission came as Egypt continued to mediate a reconciliation between the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions and promote a unity government, a measure which the EU supports.
Egypt's foreign minister said on Tuesday that he was optimistic that "by the first week of February" the Palestinian factions would reach a long lasting ceasefire "which will lead to the opening of the crossings and to stability".
His comments echo remarks he made on Sunday that he was optimistic that Egyptian-mediated talks would be able to forge a Palestinian unity government under Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas by late February, when an international donor conference to rebuild the Gaza Strip is expected to be held.
The EU foreign policy chief said he probably would spend the whole week in the region and meet new Middle East US envoy, George Mitchell.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...