The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Friday that he hoped that US president-elect Barack Obama tackles the Arab-Israeli peace process as soon as he assumes office on January 20.

"I think that that process will require much more of a dynamic," Solana told reporters on a visit to Washington following a meeting the previous evening with Obama's representative Madeleine Albright.

"It will be very difficult to do it before the election in Israel but I think that this new administration should get much more engaged from the very first day and try to create a dynamic in this process," Solana said.

After assuming office in 2000, President George W. Bush's administration put the Middle East peace process on the back burner.

And since the administration in November 2007 relaunched the first serious Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in seven years, Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have refused to pressure the two sides into an agreement.

"I think this is one of the key issues that the president elect has to take on and I hope very much that he moves very fast on that," said Solana. The European Union works with the United States, Russia and the United Nations on the Middle East diplomatic quartet.

"The (Palestinian-Israeli) negotiation has to be bilateral-there has to be an agreement between the parties-but that does not mean that you have to be withdrawn," Solana said.

"So I do think they have to let them talk between themselves but be ready to play the catalytic effect that would be necessary. If not, it may drag," he warned.’