EU foreign ministers arrived in Brussels for what was meant to be a meeting devoted to security issues after the terrorist attacks in Madrid. However, events in the Middle East overshadowed the event: the Israeli military assassinated the spiritual leader of Hamas, the 67-year-old wheelchair bound cleric Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, in a helicopter attack in Gaza early Monday morning.

All of the ministers condemned the attack, saying it was against international law and such actions would do little to bring peace to the troubled region. An official statement released by the EU appealed to both sides to exercise restraint.

Israel justified the killing by saying Yassin was behind numerous terrorist bombings. "The state of Israel this morning hit the first and foremost leader of the Palestinian terrorist murderers," Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday afternoon. "I want to make clear the war on terrorism is not over and will continue daily everywhere."

Israel undermines international law

But the EU had hard harsh words for Israel over the killing. "This is very, very bad news for the peace process," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. "This type of action does not contribute at all to create the conditions of peace."

In an unusually harsh condemnation, Solana said although Israel had the right to defend itself, its actions broke international law. "Israel has no right to carry out extra-judicial killings," he said in a statement endorsed by EU foreign ministers.Yassin's murder "inflamed the situation" and violence "is no substitute for the political negotiations which are necessary for a just and lasting settlement," they said.

Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary, was equally stern in his assessment. "It is unacceptable, it is unjustified and it is unlikely to achieve its objective, " said Straw. Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer appealed for calm. "Everything must be done so that further escalation can be avoided," he said.

But it was probably the Polish foreign minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz who hit the nail on the head when he bluntly stated, "I understand that Israel is defending its own country, but the picture of a person in a wheelchair with a rocket... this is no way to promote Israel's security."

European initiatives?

Indeed, European leaders fears that the attack will plunge the region further into a cycle of violence are well founded. Hamas and al Agsa Martyrs Brigade leaders have already warned of retaliatory attacks, saying "the gates of hell will be opened." Such an escalation of hostilities on both sides does not bode well for European hopes to bring peace to the region through new initiatives.

At the International Security Conference in Munich in February, Fischer hoped to breath news life into the peace process by proposing a new two-phase plan which called on Europe, specifically through NATO, to get more involved in the region.

As the middle east plunges further into violence and the international community waits to see what kinds of retaliation the coming days will bring, it remains unclear what will become of of Fischer's proposals or the long-stalled U.S.-initiative, the "road map."