ZAGREB, March 17 (Hina) - The Social Democratic Party (SDP) said on Wednesday that the statement by Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul about Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was tactless.
ZAGREB, March 17 (Hina) - The Social Democratic Party (SDP) said on
Wednesday that the statement by Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul about
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was tactless.#L#
"We do not think that the statement by Minister Zuzul was good because
a crisis area such as the Middle East requires a more subtle and
tactful approach regardless of who you are speaking to, both because
of grave problems in that region and because of the credibility of
Croatia's position and interests," SDP president Ivica Racan told a
news briefing.
During his visit to Israel, on March 15 Zuzul expressed his sympathy
with the people and state of Israel following a terrorist attack that
had occurred in Ashod the previous day, and said that Croatia's
position was that the fight against terrorism had to be a priority of
the international community.
After a joint meeting, Zuzul and his Israeli counterpart Sylvan Shalom
gave statements for the press. Responding to the question on his
opinion about Arafat, Zuzul said that it was hard to say with whom
Israel should negotiate on the Palestinian side. He added that Croatia
was concerned that Israel did not have a clear partner for talks and
that it hoped that the Palestinians would manage to find a leadership
that would be able to negotiate a peace settlement.
Commenting on his statement on Tuesday, Zuzul said that he had
expressed a clear position of Croatia, identical to that of the
European Union.
Racan said that Zuzul's statement was not in line with the policy and
views of the EU, adding that conclusions adopted by the EU Council of
Ministers had condemned some of the Israeli moves, including the
construction of the wall.
SDP foreign policy adviser Zoran Milanovic said that Zuzul's statement
could harm Croatia's foreign policy goals, adding that "currying
favour will certainly not benefit Croatia but will rather do it harm."
He said that after this a lot of effort would have to made to win the
support of Arab nations for Croatia's application for UN Security
Council membership.
Racan reiterated his party's opposition to Croatian troops being sent
to Iraq until the United Nations took over civil and military
leadership in the reconstruction of the country.
Speaking of the postponement of the ratification of a Stabilisation
and Association Agreement between Croatia and the EU by the Italian
parliament, Racan said that this was yet another form of pressure on
Croatia, mostly due to its proclamation of an ecological and fishing
zone in the Adriatic Sea.
(Hina) vm sb