EU presses Israel over Gaza pullout, digs at US [View All]

[maddezmom]

The EU would need firm assurances from Israel over its proposed pullout from the Gaza Strip before pledging reconstruction aid, EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said Wednesday.

Patten, painting a bleak picture of the Middle East peace process, also launched a barely-disguised dig at US President George W. Bush's support for Israeli plans to keep some Palestinian land captured in the 1967 war.

Bush's statement, made last week after talks with Israeli leader Ariel Sharon, "surprised many people, whether understandably or not, and one cannot disguise the fact that it seems to have caused great concern in the Arab world," Patten told the European Parliament.

He noted that some people had underlined the positive aspects of the Israeli plan, including the proposed pullout from the Gaza Strip.

"Some of course always see a glass as half full when others believe it is half empty. Others find it rather challenging to believe that a glass is half full when they can't see very much liquid in the glass at all," he said.

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more: http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/040421151211.nxu62koo