EU rejects cutting Arafat links

Solana wants to put the roadmap back on track

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, has rejected demands by Israel to cut relations with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Mr Solana held talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Tel Aviv on Sunday to try to bolster the beleaguered peace plan known as the roadmap in the face of continuing violence.

The EU official said he respected the decision of a democratic country, but Israel had to accept that the European position had not changed.

Israel's request for the EU to declare the political wing of the militant Palestinian group Hamas a terrorist organisation was also discussed at the meeting.

Britain wants the EU to make the classification in wake of the 19 August bus attack in Jerusalem in which a Hamas suicide bomber killed 21 passengers.

"We will discuss it soon but the main thing is to cut the financial resources of the terrorist organisations," Mr Solana said.

Iran fear

Mr Solana is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday as well as John Wolf, who has been appointed by George W Bush to oversee the implementation of the roadmap.

Israel has expressed alarm at growing ties between the EU and Iran, which Israel and the US suspect of seeking to build nuclear weapons.

"Iran is fast approaching the point of no return in its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons capability," Mr Shalom said following the talks.

Israel has urged the EU to apply economic sanctions against Iran to dissuade it from pursuing a nuclear programme, but the EU has insisted on pursuing a policy of dialogue with the Tehran.

Mr Solana said he had urged the Islamic republic to agree to snap inspections by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi on Saturday.

"We have asked the Iranian Government to sign the additional protocol as soon as possible," he said.

Mr Solana was not scheduled to meet Palestinian leaders but correspondents say this is because the foreign policy chief does not meet Israeli and Palestinian officials on the same visit.

The EU is part of the so-called international Quartet - which also includes the United Nations, the US and Russia - which drafted the roadmap as a way to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.