European rejection to alienate Israel from the Euro- Med Conference

The European commission on Thursday rejected a Syrian and Lebanese proposal that calls for banning Israel from taking part in the conference of the foreign ministers of the European Union and the Mediterranean states due to be held next week in Valencia, Spain because of the Israeli aggression in the West Bank.

The spokesman for the European Commission Jonar Vijand said in a press statement that "the basic aim of the conference is to bring together all countries overlooking the Mediterranean and Israel is an integral part of the Euro- Mediterranean participation." He added "it is very important to permit Israel to take part and carry out an active role in the discussions." Israel is due to delegate its foreign minister Shimon Peres to represent it to the conference, where the European Union is intending, during bilateral talks to call for an immediate withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the Palestinian areas.

Meantime, Chris Patten, the European Union's Commissioner for External Affairs stressed the need of the participation of all the 27 member states of the Euro- Mediterranean region in the conference. In a separate statement, Paten said: "we want to prove that people, regardless of difficulties, they can sit and talk in matters of mutual interests." EU officials say that Syria may boycott the meeting or send an official beyond the ministerial level to express its protest. A Spanish diplomatic source said on Thursday that Syria and Lebanon did not confirm if they will send representatives to Valencia.