By KUNA
Brussels : European Union Foreign Ministers Council will review developments in the Middle East namely alarming conditions in Gaza and Israeli settlements’ issue during a meeting due to be held here on Monday.
The council is expected to express grave concern at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and at recent Israeli settlement activity in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, said EU sources.
A tight blockade of Gaza by Israel has forced thousands of Gaza residents, in the last few days, to breach the Rafah security wall and flock to Egypt to buy essential goods.
Last week, Israel announced construction of 2,500 new housing units in settlements in occupied east Jerusalem thus violating the points agreed during the Annapolis conference held in the U.S. last November.
The foreign ministers of the 27-member bloc are expected to welcome the European Commission’s work on a new funding mechanism for Palestinians that will be a main channel for EU and other international assistance.
They will also welcome the start of negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian officials on all outstanding issues, including all final status affairs, with a view to concluding a peace agreement before the end of 2008, as agreed upon in Annapolis. The council will review the Iranian nuclear issue following the meeting in Berlin last Tuesday of the foreign ministers of China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the United States as well as EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana who agreed on the contents of a new UN Security Council Resolution on Irans nuclear program.
Germany, France and the UK will now submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council for tougher sanctions on Iran for not suspending enrichment activities.
The Council will discuss the situation in Lebanon, and is expected to express concern that it has not yet been possible to elect a new president.
The EU ministers are expected to welcome a plan for the immediate election of a president, the formation of a national unity government and the adoption of a new electoral law in Lebanon, as endorsed by Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo on January 6.
They will also exchange views with regard to the latest developments in Pakistan following the recent visit to Brussels by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
EU officials are calling for free and fair elections in Pakistan scheduled to be held on February 18.
Developments in Kenya, Darfur, Chad and the Western Balkans are also on the agenda of the meeting.
The council will adopt a decision to launch the EU military bridging operation for Chad and the Central African Republic.
Mondays formal EU Foreign Ministers meeting will be the first to be held under the new EU Presidency which Slovenia assumed on January 1.