Lisbon - The European Union sounded an upbeat note about the prospect of peace in the Middle East after a meeting in Lisbon on Monday with the foreign ministers of Israel and of the Palestinian territories. "It has been many years since we were this close from unblocking the process in the direction of peace," Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said after holding separate talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart, Riyad Malki.
Livni and Malki were both in Lisbon to discuss peace prospects with senior EU officials ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers from the EU and from its southern neighbours around the Mediterranean Sea.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana had earlier praised the "constructive" approach of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to a US-sponsored conference on the Middle East, likely to take place in late November in Annapolis, Maryland.
"Olmert yesterday gave a very constructive speech, one of his best in recent times. If that is the spirit with which he is approaching the (Middle East peace) process, I think we have many chances of having a positive outcome (in Annapolis)," Solana said.
Speaking after talks in Israel with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Olmert said he was willing to let the Annapolis conference focus on the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These include the status of Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugee problem and the borders of the future Palestinians state.
Olmert also said he hoped that the peace negotiations, based on a two-state solution, would be completed before US President George W Bush leaves office in January 2009.
In Lisbon, D'Alema said a positive outcome in Annapolis would strengthen Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and foster reconciliation between the opposing Palestinian factions.
D'Alema also said that while the road to peace was fraught with difficulties, the EU had a significant role to play in the region, both as a major trading partner of Israel and as a donor to the Palestinian territories.
"Europe can do a lot to encourage the two sides," D'Alema said.
While Israel has traditionally treated the EU with an element of mistrust, analysts say relations have improved since ebbing to a low during the 1990s.
"Israel generally doesn't take the EU too seriously, but relations have certainly improved since the 1990s, when Israelis felt that Europe never took their side," said Clara Marina O'Donnell of the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think tank.
EU forces are currently training Palestinian police officers while Italy, France and Germany are the greatest contributors to a UN peace-keeping mission in southern Lebanon.
Though no direct talks between Livni and Malki were officially scheduled in Lisbon, the two ministers were believed to have faced each other during a dinner Monday with fellow foreign ministers from the EU and from the Mediterranean area, according to a seating plan made available by the meeting's host, the Portuguese presidency of the EU.
The dinner marked the official start of the 9th Euro-Mediterranean Conference, which was due to end with a working lunch on Tuesday.
Set up in 1995, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership aims to establish a common area of peace and stability and enhance economic, social and cultural cooperation between the EU and 10 of its southern neighbours.
During Tuesday's talks, EU foreign ministers planned to discuss plans by French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a Mediterranean Union, modelled along the lines of the EU.
EU ministers said such plans remained sketchy and would only be discussed in detail during the French presidency of the EU, which spans the second half of 2008.
