Mideast: Berlusconi will back Quartet
Italian PM will support position at Arab League summit
19 March, 18:07
(ANSA) - Rome, March 19 - Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi
will back the Middle East Quartet's condemnation of Israel's
latest construction plans when he attends an Arab League summit
at the end of the month, Italian Foreign Minister Franco
Frattini told United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Friday.Earlier Friday in Moscow, the Quartet - Russia, the US, the United Nations and the European Union - condemned for the second time in a week Israeli plans to build 1,600 new housing units in disputed East Jerusalem, land the Palestinians want for a future capital.
In a "cordial" phone call with Clinton, the Italian foreign ministry said, Frattini said Berlusconi would reiterate the Quartet's position as "an important reference point for relaunching peace prospects in the region".
As well as condemning the reconstruction plan, the Quartet urged all sides to promote indirect peace talks aimed at achieving a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank within 24 months.
Speaking in Modena later, Frattini said the two-year framework for a peace settlement was "reasonable".
"I spoke to my colleague Hillary Clinton and she was objectively satisfied," he said.
"There is no alternative to what Italy and the EU have always proposed, that is two states living alongside each other in peace and security".
Arab League chief Amr Moussa said Thursday that, after rioting by Palestinians against the construction plans, Arab leaders would discuss the rising tension in Jerusalem at their March 27-28 summit in Tripoli.
Frattini was speaking after returning from Syria where he accompanied Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on a state visit.
Napolitano said Friday in Syria that criticism of Israel over its construction project in East Jerusalem "will leave its mark".
But he voiced hope for "positive developments, rethinking (and) corrections" that may lead to the opening of proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Italian president also noted that the return of the Golan Heights to Syria was a part of the peace process.
Napolitano had formal talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Thursday and will meet him again before he leaves Syria on Saturday.
Italy has had a "constant policy of attention and opening towards the Arab world and Syria," the Italian head of state said.
photo: Berlusconi with Moussa in Rome last April
