Levy supports Arafat talks

THERE is a new situation in the Middle East and therefore a new assessment has to be made about it, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, said after meeting the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton.

Mr Levy, who was in Ireland for two days as part of a tour of European capitals, also expressed "unequivocal support" for the peace process and for the meeting his Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, had this week with the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat.

Speaking to reporters yesterday through an interpreter, Mr Levy said it was his understanding that "the European Union has no intention to complicate things but rather to honour the agreements between the Palestinians and ourselves".

He added that the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, had promised to "convey the message" to EU ministers that a reviewed assessment had to be made following the changed situation in the Middle East.

His comments follow continuing doubts about a possible visit by Mr Spring to Jerusalem, as part of the EU troika, if it did not include Orient House, the unofficial Palestinian headquarters in East Jerusalem.

Mr Levy said: "Yasser Arafat has ordered the closing of three Palestinian political institutions in east Jerusalem." Anyone could go and meet Mr Arafat "in the areas of his authority," Mr Levy said. "When there are such understandings between the parties concerned, that when you try and go back to the period before that it only complicates things."

He was referring to the controversy when Mr Spring visited Orient House in 1995, seen as tacit partial recognition of Palestinian claims of rights to the city. Mr Levy told Mr Spring on Thursday that Mr Arafat was prepared to accept the EU visit which would exclude Orient House, but this is questioned by diplomatic sources.

Asked if Mr Spring had said he would visit Jerusalem, Mr Levy replied: "I have invited him. He said he would welcome any change for the better. We don't live yesterday. We live with our faces towards the future."

He asserted: "Jerusalem is the unified capital of Israel and it should stay that way". Asked if it could also be the Palestinian capital, he said: "We think that there is one Jerusalem and it should be the capital of Israel."

The Israeli Foreign Minister described his meetings with the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste as "good talks, constructive and open." They also discussed bilateral issues as well as Iran, Iraq and Syria.

He believed there was "a wish in Europe to see the process continuing and advancing."