The European Union “stands ready to play an active role” in a proposed international peace conference this autumn, according to a joint statement by EU foreign ministers released Monday. Foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the EU has long anticipated the opportunity and is “completely in favor of it.”

Following decades of failed peace initiatives in which Israel has forfeited land and other assets in return for Arab promises to reduce terrorist violence, including the all-but-discarded U.S. road map for peace, the Bush administration has called for an international meeting to discuss the future of the Middle East.

The proposed meeting will include the “Quartet”: the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.

For its part, Europe is interested principally in forwarding the Palestinian cause. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeir called the conference an opportunity to find out “how we can move ahead on the way to a two-state solution.”

To that end, the EU has already called for Middle East envoy Tony Blair to step up pressure on Israel to make additional concessions. It has also begun refunding the Palestinian Authority after financial aid was withheld following the Hamas takeover of the pa government in January 2006.

Responding to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s release of over 250 Palestinian prisoners and a transfer of withheld revenues, which flabbergasted many Israelis, EU ministers demanded further concessions, including “the immediate, complete and regular release of the remaining and future funds.”

The EU also told Israel “to take further steps to meet the commitments” that include removing Israeli security infrastructure in the West Bank.

The EU also pledged “full support” for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his so-called moderate Fatah party. It also rejected any division of the areas controlled by Palestinians and asserted its “readiness to engage with all Palestinian parties whose policy and actions reflect the Mideast Quartet principles” (EJPress.org, July 24).

Look for the European Union to contend for an even larger role in the Middle East. For accurate forecasting of current and future events regarding this subject, read the August 2001 Trumpet cover story, “The Counterfeit Peacemaker.”