by Indalecio Alvarez
PARIS, Aug 25 (AFP) - Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, in the French capital on an impromptu visit, told AFP in an interview on Wednesday that the European Union should play a key role in the Middle East peace process.
Shalom, in Paris to discuss a rise in the number of anti-Semitic attacks in France, said the 25-member bloc could help rebuild the Gaza Strip as Israel pushes ahead with a plan to pull out of the Palestinian territory next year.
His comments came just one month after he told the EU's top diplomat Javier Solana that Europe could be frozen out of the Middle East peace process after universally condemning Israel's controversial West Bank barrier.
"The Europeans can and should play a key role in the peace process," Shalom told AFP after visiting the gutted ruins of a Jewish center in eastern Paris that was torched last weekend.
But he cautioned: "The Europeans should know that in order to become a mediator, they should have a more balanced attitude toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"You can't adopt 100 percent of the Palestinian demands -- an independent Palestinian state in the 1967 borders, its capital in Jerusalem and the implementation of the right of return -- and then ask to become a mediator."
The European Union -- along with Russia, the United States and the United Nations -- is a member of the so-called diplomatic "quartet" that has sponsored the roadmap for Middle East peace, which has resulted in next to no progress.
After talks with Shalom late Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said the EU role in the peace process should be "recognized and strengthened", and offered the help of France and the EU in the Gaza Strip.
For his part, Shalom said: "I think the Europeans can help us to rebuild Gaza, to force the Palestinians to implement the reforms that will give more authority to the (Palestinian) prime minister to control security forces and money."
The Israeli minister said European countries could also help the Jewish state to communicate with the Arab world.
Israel plans to evacuate all 8,000 Jewish settlers living in the Gaza Strip and withdraw its troops from the territory by the end of next year, but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has yet to gain parliamentary approval for his proposal.
As for security in the Gaza Strip, which borders Egypt, Shalom said: "Because the Americans were involved all the time, we are doing that with the Americans and the Egyptians."
But he ruled out the idea of an "international presence in Gaza", saying: "We don't think now is the time to deal with it. We are trying to do everything we can to engage with the Egyptians, who are our neighbors, and of course with the Americans."
Shalom was due to leave Paris on Thursday for talks in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer was due in Israel next week.
Israel is hoping to convince European countries -- especially UN Security Council members Britain, France and Germany -- not to support a new resolution at the United Nations against Israel's West Bank barrier.
"It is very important for us that Europeans not vote in favor of this resolution like they did a few weeks ago," Shalom said.
The 25 EU states voted en masse in July for a UN General Assembly resolution endorsing an earlier non-binding verdict by the International Court of Justice, the UN's highest legal body, that parts of the barrier built inside the West Bank were illegal and should be torn down.
"We were very surprised, we thought they would abstain," Shalom admitted.
Afterwards, Shalom told Solana that Europe could be frozen out of the Middle East peace process as a result of what he called its failure to understand Israel's security needs.
On Wednesday, Shalom said: "I hope that this time, (Europeans) will find out that the Palestinians are only trying to use them in their battle against us."