CAIRO, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The top European Union diplomat, Javier Solana, says he is optimistic about finding new mechanisms to revive the stalled Middle East peace process.
Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, said in Cairo Thursday he hoped that progress would be achieved in the peace process before the Quartet -- the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations -- meets in Washington in February.
He told a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmad Abul Ghait, the EU and its partners in the region are seeking to define "what is the endgame ... Once we have the endgame, to know how we can get there."
He was apparently referring to a framework for a final peace settlement between the Palestinians and Israelis, as opposed to confidence-building measures featured in the Quartet's 2003 "road map" for peace, which had left aside final status issues such as the fate of Jerusalem, refugees and the borders of a Palestinian state.
The Egyptian foreign minister said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will return to the region as part of the Quartet members' diplomatic efforts to revive the peace negotiations. She was in the region this week and announced she will chaperon a summit meeting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert within one month to concentrate on the "political horizon" that would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Abul Ghait said he expected "positive results" in 2007, adding Egypt seeks negotiations in two parallel stages in terms of confidence-building measures and negotiations to reach a settlement within a specific time period.
He said, "It has different names with different partners. With the Europeans it's 'framework;' with the Egyptians it's the 'endgame;' with the Americans it's the 'political horizon.' But the concept is almost one."
