EU hails Obama’s call to respect pre-1967 Israeli-Palestinian borders

19:02 – 20.05.11

The European Union said on Friday it ‘warmly welcomes’ US President
Barack Obama’s call for a peace deal based on the border prior to the
1967 Middle East war.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton ‘warmly welcomes President
Obama’s confirmation that the borders of Israel and Palestine should
be based on the 1967 lines with the mutually agreed swaps, with
secured and recognised borders on both sides,’ AFP reported, citing a
spokesman for Ashton said.

In a keynote policy speech the previous day, Obama included a clear
call for Israel and the Palestinians to use the lines that existed
before 1967 as the basis for talks to achieve a negotiated solution to
the conflict.

The common goal of both the EU and the United States remained ‘a just
and lasting solution’ with Israel and a viable Palestinian state
‘living side by side in peace and security,’ said Maja Kocijancic.

The EU hoped to see swift progress in peace efforts, she added.

Obama relaunched direct talks between the two sides in September 2010,
the first in nearly two years, but they ground to a halt over the
issue of Israeli settlement construction.

Tert.am