EU foreign policy chief Solana to Haaretz: Israeli-Palestinian talks have gone too slowly

By Barak Ravid

The peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been carried out far too slowly since last November's Annapolis summit, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana told Haaretz.

Solana said in an interview on Friday that "it is true that in this process of negotiations, the more determined one is, the better chances of getting an agreement in the [stipulated] time frame .... I think that it has been done too slowly at the beginning and that probably this is the mistake that has been made."


Solana arrived in Israel Friday morning and had meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials in Tel Aviv and Ramallah. Solana said he has doubts over whether a deal can be completed by the end of the year, saying that the longer the sides wait to go forward with talks, the less they are likely to succeed.

"Because time is shorter, it will more difficult to do," Solana said. "I think we have to maintain the momentum and we will have to see some results before the end of the year". He added that in 2009 "it will be much more complicated to do."

Wow... this is probably the most direct approach I've seen in regards to the Israel/Palestine situation in a while. I wonder what we can expect in 2009?