Schwarzenberg to attend Paris meeting on Israeli air assaults on Gaza

The Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, is to attend a specially convened European Union meeting in Paris on Tuesday evening to discuss Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Mr Schwarzenberg is planning to listen to the views of other countries rather than advancing a Czech position, which – given that the Czech Republic assumes the presidency of the EU on Thursday – could be misconstrued as the official position of the EU, a Czech Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. Finding a common EU position on the Middle East conflict is one of the tasks facing the Czech presidency. Prague is planning to host an EU-Israel conference in the first half of 2009, while an EU-Palestine summit is also a possibility, the Czech News Agency reported.

At the weekend Minister Schwarzenberg defended Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. He also expressed regrets over the poor living conditions which led young people in Gaza to join radical organisations, and called for the resumption of a cease-fire.