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Spain unveils Mid-East peace plan Spain unveils Mid-East peace plan
(10 minutes later)
Spain, Italy and France are to launch a new Middle East peace initiative, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has said. Spain, Italy and France are to launch a new Middle East peace initiative, Spain's prime minister has said.
Mr Zapatero is currently playing host to French President Jacques Chirac. "Peace between Israel and the Palestinians means to a large extent peace on the international scene," Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said.
"Peace between Israel and the Palestinians means to a large extent peace on the international scene," Mr Zapatero said. He said a plan would be put to an EU summit in December and he hoped it would be backed by the UK and Germany.
A plan will be put to an EU summit in December, he said, adding he hoped it would be backed by the UK and Germany. The proposal would include an immediate ceasefire and the formation of a Palestinian unity government.
He said this plan would have five components: an immediate ceasefire, the formation of a Palestinian unity government, an exchange of prisoners, talks between Israel's prime minister and the Palestinian Authority president and an international mission in Gaza to monitor a ceasefire. The other three components of the plan would involve an exchange of prisoners, talks between Israel's prime minister and the Palestinian Authority president and an international mission in Gaza to monitor a ceasefire.
Eventually, a major international conference on Middle East peace should be held, he said. The announcement came amid fresh violence in the region.
Israeli troops in the West Bank say they killed a Palestinian militant, a day after a wave of militant rocket fire from Gaza killed an Israeli woman in the Israeli town of Sderot and seriously wounded two men.
'Dramatic situation'
Mr Zapatero, currently playing host to French President Jacques Chirac, called for a major international conference on Middle East peace.
"We cannot remain impassive in the face of the horror that continues to unfold before our eyes," Mr Zapatero said."We cannot remain impassive in the face of the horror that continues to unfold before our eyes," Mr Zapatero said.
"Violence has reached a level of deterioration that requires determined, urgent action by the international community.""Violence has reached a level of deterioration that requires determined, urgent action by the international community."
For his part, Mr Chirac said the EU had to act in the face of "the increasingly dramatic situation".
"We are going to act jointly with the Spanish and Italian governments, with the co-operation of the EU... to try to initiate the indispensable moral and political reforms in the Middle East," he added.