Mideast at top of State's foreign policy agenda - Ahern

The resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict is "an historic and moral imperative" which would transform the prospects of the region, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said this evening.

Speaking in Saudi Arabia during a five-day trade mission to Gulf states, Mr Ahern said a solution to the conflict was at the top of Ireland's foreign policy agenda "as pursued in our bilateral relations, with our partners in the EU and at the United Nations".

He said the situation across the Middle East today represented the greatest single threat to world peace and "a comprehensive settlement to the interlinked problems of the region is more urgently needed than at any time over the past 60 years".

"At its heart," he said, "must be a negotiated, two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict".

In his address to the King Faisal Foundation,  Mr Ahern said it was important that the international community "demonstrated it is now ready to act decisively to promote a settlement which ends the occupation of 1967 and provides for the establishment of two sovereign, viable and independent States, Israel and Palestine, based on the 1967 borders".

In a wide-ranging speech, the Taoiseach said there had been "catastrophic failures" in the US-led policy towards Iraq and lessons must be learned.

He said the international community could no longer "afford the further brutalisation, division and isolation of the historic nation of Iraq."

He warned that progress was only possible if shared political institutions were developed, existing territorial borders respected and inter-communal reconciliation promoted.

On the subject of Iran's nuclear intentions, the Fianna Fail leader said: "The European Union is united in its strong support for a diplomatic, negotiated solution.

"We do not seek to deprive Iran of its rights, but to ensure and verify that its exercise of those rights is consistent with international peace and security."

But he said the EU regretted that Iran did not engage seriously with the wide-ranging proposals presented by the EU last summer.

In his speech, Mr Ahern pointed out that Ireland along with other EU countries was providing the backbone of the new Unifil force policing a truce brokered after last summer's month-long conflict between Israel and Hizbullah.

"We will be ready to meet the challenge, and Ireland will play its part," Mr Ahern added.

He also said Ireland was proud of the "magnificent role" being played in Irish society by members of its 40,000-strong Islamic community.

He said he looked forward to the full involvement of the representatives of the Islamic community in the proposed structured dialogue between the Government and the churches and faith which will begin in the coming weeks.