US - European initiative to revive the peace process

European diplomatic and political sources in Brussels unveiled current efforts exerted by the European Union to revive the peace process in the region through an initiative to be announced during the first quarter of 1998 in coordination with the US.

The sources stressed to an "Orient Radio" correspondent in Brussels that the European Union and the US moved from the stage of cooperation into merging their efforts for a diplomatic dialogue held outside the UN. The sources noted the contacts made for this end between the US administration and Britain, which will resume the European Union presidency at the beginning of 1998.

The sources attributed such US-European closeness to the failure of all recently made attempts to revive the peace process due to Israel's intransigent stances.

In a separate development, Swedish Foreign Minister has stressed that the US credibility in the Middle East has receded, demanding Washington to take a neutral stand and to exert pressures on Israel to achieve a genuine progress in the peace process and withdraw from the occupied Arab territories.