News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Ten European foreign ministers said Monday that the American Roadmap plan is dead and that Israel must make major concessions to the Palestinian Authority (PA). Speaking at an unofficial conference, they called for the deployment of an international peacekeeping force in the area. The foreign ministers also revealed that an Arab League delegation from Jordan and Egypt has proposed visiting Israel to try to revive the Saudi 2000 initiative. The plan calls for recognition of Israel by 22 Arab states in return for a surrender of all of Israel that was restored after the Six-Day War in 1967.

The Saudi plan also insists on the right of immigration to Israel of more than five million descendants of Arabs living in the country when it was established and accepted as a country by the United Nations.

The European officials wrote to newly appointed Quartet envoy Tony Blair, who recently stepped down as Britain's Prime Minister, calling for Israel to implement "concrete and immediate measures in favor of Mahmoud Abbas," chairman of the PA. The Quartet includes the United Nations, the United States, the European Union (EU) and Russia.