In Jerusalem, EU official urges Netanyahu to back two-state solution

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Thursday he hoped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would commit himself to a two-state solution in a speech on Sunday to help revive peace talks with the Palestinians.

"A lot of important things are taking place," Solana told reporters in Jerusalem, the first stop on a diplomatic trip for talks with Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese and Egyptian leaders.

He cited U.S. President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo a week ago, addressed to the Arab and Muslim world, in which he spoke of the urgent need for a Middle East peace settlement.

Solana also cited the election result in Lebanon which Western powers took as a promising development as Iranian-backed Hezbollah did not score a breakthrough.

He looked forward to Friday's election in Iran, where hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces a challenge from moderate Mirhossein Mousavi.

This could be a good moment to "see how we can bring back the situation to something that can be moving in the right direction", Solana said, after a year with no progress in the peace process and an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

It would be helpful if Netanyahu in his policy speech made a commitment to the "two-state solution" and to a freeze on Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the top European Union diplomat said.

"I don't know what he wants to say but what I would like to hear ... that (Israel) will stop settlements and will resume negotiations with the Palestinians," Solana said after meeting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah.

He declined to speculate on how the European Union might react if Netanyahu, who heads a right-leaning coalition including parties opposed to any halt to settlements, continued to avoid endorsing a peace deal based on Palestinian statehood.

Western powers and previous Israeli governments endorse the principle of two states as the only viable solution.

Obama's speech was well received in the Arab world, Solana said. "If we continue working in that direction and we have an impulse on the part of Prime Minister Netanyahu, we may be able to begin talks."