Mideast situation/Palestine question – EU statement – Letter from France

Letter dated 12 December 2000 from the Permanent Representative of France

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to call your attention to the statement on the Middle East issued on 8 December 2000 by the Presidency of the European Union on behalf of the European Union (see annex).

I should be grateful if you would have the text of this letter and its annex circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda items 40 and 41, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Jean-David Levitte

Permanent Representative of France

to the United Nations

Annex to the letter dated 29 November 2000 from the

Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General

[Original: English and French]

Statement on the Middle East issued on 8 December 2000

by the Presidency of the European Union on behalf of the European Union

The prospect of peace must return to the Middle East.

Nobody can tolerate violence, the suffering of populations or hatred between peoples.

The negotiations must resume. The European Union considers the following essential in this connection:

– the personal commitment of the Israeli Prime Minister and the President of the Palestinian Authority;

– full and immediate compliance with the undertakings which they entered into at Sharm el-Sheikh and Gaza;

– concrete gestures by both parties, with respect, inter alia, to the renunciation of violence and, as regards Israel, the settlements issue;

– the establishment of a mechanism for confidence-building measures;

– the commencement of work on the spot by the Fact-Finding Commission, in which Mr. Solana, Secretary-General/High Representative for the common foreign and security policy (CFSP), will take part;

– an agreement on the setting up of an observer mission.

The European Union has major interests in the Middle East. Its positions have been clearly defined, inter alia, at the Berlin European Council meeting in March 1999 and in the European Union’s Statement of 12 September 2000. It is willing to consult with all parties on the means of achieving these objectives with a view to the resumption of negotiations for a peace agreement.