The European Union appears to be split over whether to support the Palestinian demand for recognition of a state at the United Nations later this month as EU Foreign Ministers discuss the issue this weekend at an informal meeting in Poland.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the question hasn't been discussed yet by EU member states because no such resolution has been tabled yet for the upcoming UN General Assembly.
She travelled to Israel and the Palestinian territories earlier this week in order to push Israel and the Palestinians to resume direct negotiations ahead of the UN gathering.
Ashton said the EU member states were united "over the most critical issue, which is to try to get the (Israeli-Palestinian) talks moving."
"We need to find a way to create a two-state solution, a secure, stable Israel living side by side with a secure, stable Palestinian state," she said.
But the meeting of European Foreign Ministers in Sopot, a coastal Baltic resort near Gdansk, comes two days after French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a conference of French ambassadors that it was very important for the EU to speak "with one voice" on this matter.
"I hope that the 27 countries of the European Union will speak with one voice and that together we will assume our responsibilities," he said, urging a greater role for Europe in the Middle East diplomatic process.
Israel has been lobbying European capitals not to endorse the Palestinian move.
According to diplomatic sources, Germany, Italy, Holland, Poland and the Czech Republic are opposed to the Palestinian unilateral move while Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden are likely to back the UN resolution.
France and other countries, including Britain, might follow the same path if there is no progress in restarting Israeli-Palestinian talks.
The ministerial meeting is organized on the ‘Gymnich’ model which means that unlike sessions of the Foreign Affairs Council, no formal decisions are agreed.
The term Gymnich comes from Gymnich Castle near Bonn, where during the German EU Presidency in 1974 the first such meeting was held.