BRUSSELS, March 10: European Union foreign ministers will meet Monday in Brussels to drum out measures aimed at putting an end to escalating violence in the Middle East, against a background of narrowing differences between the EU and Washington over how to solve the crisis.

A Reuters report however said European Union foreign ministers will throw their weight on Monday behind Arab and US peace efforts after one of the bloodiest weeks in 17 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The 15 ministers will support a Saudi peace initiative as well as US envoy Anthony Zinni’s planned trip to the region and will pledge to work closely with Washington in the search for peace.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar spoke Saturday of “a very solid possibility for an agreement between the EU and the United States to do something positive in the Middle East.”

The Netherlands has called for a joint statement by the 15-nation European Union and the United States to urge Israel to bring “an immediate end to military repression which is going nowhere.”

Despite Washington’s denial of a suggested joint EU-US statement, and a similar response from Europe’s capitals, signs appear to be real that transatlantic differences over how to end the 17-month bloodshed are being set aside.

If no “joint initiative” is underway, there is nevertheless “joint action” and a “very strict cooperation” between Europe and the United States over the Middle East, said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana. Solana made a two-day visit to the United States last week.

EU foreign ministers will discuss “the necessity of cooperation with the United States” less than a week before an EU summit in Barcelona, diplomatic sources said Sunday.

Ministers will also send “a very strong message against violence to the two (Middle East) parties”, the sources added.

The European countries will also produce “a message of support for initiatives being drawn up in the region”, such as a Saudi plan, the sources said.

The Saudi initiative proposes a normalization of relations between all Arab countries and Israel in exchange for an Israeli pullout from all occupied territories, including east Jerusalem.

The proposal has grabbed the Europeans’ attention, but the EU has yet to produce a similar joint initiative itself.

According to a European official, the Saudi plan offers a chance of “longterm reconciliation” between the Israelis and Palestinians.

It also provides the general framework needed to apply the so-called Tenet and Mitchell blueprints aimed at halting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a different European source added.

In June 2001, George Tenet, head of the US Central Intelligence Agency, proposed a mechanism for a ceasefire between Palestinians and Israelis that has never been applied.

And former US senator George Mitchell has published a report calling for an unconditional cessation of violence followed by a “cooling-off period” and the resumption of peace negotiations.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz is to officially present his proposals during an Arab League summit in Beirut on March 27-28.

However the location of the summit implies that Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat, who has been under effective Israeli house arrest in Ramallah since December, would be able to travel to Beirut, a European official pointed out.

During the meeting Monday of the 15 EU foreign ministers, an initial evaluation of key weekend elections in Zimbabwe will also be carried out.

Ministers will also examine public development aid at the meeting before a UN-sponsored summit on development aid in Mexico later this month.

The March 18-22 International Conference on Financing for Development, which is to gather representatives from 200 countries in Monterrey, aims to build stronger relations between rich and poor nations.

The installation of a European police force in Bosnia is another item on the EU foreign ministers’ agenda.

HA’ARETZ: The United States and the European Union will launch a common initiative to end the deadly violence in the Middle East, according to an Israeli media report on Sunday.

On its website, Ha’aretz reported that US and EU officials will demand that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stop the violence, a spokesman for the Dutch Foreign Ministry, Hans Janssen, told the US news network MSNBC.—dpa/AFP/ Reuters