JDV, Israeli Speaker agree on revival of Arab peace process

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and visiting Speaker Dalia Itzik of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) agreed on Monday on the need to revive the Arab-Israeli peace process.

"We both agreed that the peace process be now reactivated," De Venecia said.

He and his Israeli counterpart expressed their views after he conferred on his visitor the Congressional Medal of Achievement, the highest decoration from the House of Representatives.

Those who attended the conferment ceremonies included former President Fidel Ramos and senior House officials led by Deputy Speaker Raul del Mar.

De Venecia said he and his Israeli counterpart encouraged efforts that would lead the troubled Middle East to peace under a roadmap earlier proposed by the European Union, the United States, Russia, and the United Nations.

He said there is a need to bring Iran into the picture since Teheran has remained strongly influential with Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, which recently fought Israeli forces for more than a month, and with the Hamas group in Palestine and Syria.

De Venecia echoed a proposal he presented at the 14th Summit of Non-Aligned Movement in Havana last month that called for "focused and non-stop negotiations among the parties intimately concerned to settle the Israeli-Palestine problem once and for all."

He proposed a timeline of one year to 18 months for the negotiations with limited breaks until a final agreement is reached.

He also repeated his endorsement of the land-for-peace proposal of Saudi Arabia, which many Arab nations are supporting.

At the same time, he called for interfaith dialogues among Christians, Muslims and Jews to complement steps already taken to bring peace to the Middle East.

The Knesset leader expressed her country’s appreciation for the services of nearly 40,000 Filipino workers, mostly nurses and caregivers, in Israel, saying her government is looking after their welfare.

She said the Filipinos "behaved admirably" during the Hezbollah-Israel conflict.

After calling on De Venecia, the visiting official met with President Arroyo in Malacañang.