BICOM

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday that the European Union should have a greater role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. “The role of the US is uncontested and irreplaceable, but everybody sees that it is not enough. We have to widen the circle of negotiation, think of the role and pertinence of the quartet,” Sarkozy told a conference of French ambassadors. The French president added that he wanted to see a united European Union voice on the issue of Palestinian statehood at next month’s United Nations General Assembly: “The 27 countries of the European Union must express themselves with one voice,” Sarkozy said. To date most EU countries, including Britain, have refrained from committing on how they would vote on the resolution, saying that it depended on the text.  EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was scheduled to convene an informal meeting at an annual gathering of the EU’s 27 foreign ministers tomorrow in Poland, where the issue is likely to be discussed.

Meanwhile, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence committee published a report yesterday saying that the Israeli government has ‘failed to prepare properly’ to stop the Palestinian bid at the UN. The report took into accounts hearings from senior government and defence officials on various scenarios of what may happen in September. The committee, however, commended the preparations of the defence establishment for preparing to handle various security possibilities. The report concluded by saying what will happen in September will create a risk to the region in terms of violence and escalations. Shaul Mofaz, the committee’s chairman and a senior member of the opposition party Kadima, commissioned the report.