Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A group of Arab and European Foreign Ministers met in Dublin on 18 and 19 February at my invitation for a discussion on the current state of the Middle East peace process. As well as the Palestinian Foreign Minister and me, Ministers from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Jordan, Spain and Sweden were present, as was the Secretary General of the Arab League. The participants were welcomed to Ireland by President Higgins and by the Taoiseach before the meeting. I had invited this group of Ministers based on my previous engagements with them on this issue in the past 18 months. Although there were a number of EU Ministers present, we did not, of course, represent the European Union as a whole. All of those present shared a vision for peace and believed in a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the two-state solution. In our view, that is essential to a successful new peace plan.

Ministers emphasised their support for a comprehensive Middle East peace process which met the legitimate rights and aspirations of both parties: the right of Palestinians to freedom and statehood and the right of Israelis to security and regional acceptance. We urged international mobilisation and serious and effective negotiations to create a political horizon so as to counter disillusionment and potential radicalisation. Participants reiterated their support for every credible effort to get such serious negotiations started.

As it was always envisaged that the meeting would be a private discussion, we did not produce a declaration or long public statement. This format allowed for the maximum openness and straight talking, which we certainly had. Therefore, I will not comment in detail on who said what. What I can say is the purpose of the meeting was to bring people together who had a shared interest in a peace plan which might emerge in the coming months landing successfully in terms of both content and approach.

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