Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations

    GAZA, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday called on Europe for a more active role in the Middle East peace process in addition to its supportive economical role.

    Abbas made his statements as he met with visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. They signed an agreement to establish an industrial zone in Bethlehem with a cost of 21 million U.S. dollars.

    Sarkozy arrived in Israel on Sunday with his wife. He visited Bethlehem on Tuesday and held talks with Abbas. He said that France will do its best to help establishing an independent Palestinian state.

    "It is an interest of everyone to have the Palestinian president (Abbas) to be as a man of peace and not as a man of war," said Sarkozy.

    He reiterated the message he delivered to Israel's parliament on Monday when he called on the Palestinians to do more to combat terrorism and for Israel to stop building Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

    Meanwhile, Abbas welcomed Sarkozy's visit in a joint news conference held at the presidential palace in Bethlehem. Abbas said that achieving peace is linked to ending the suffering of the Palestinians people.

    "Ending our people's suffering is to remove the separation wall, stop settlements activities and removing all the daily obstacles they suffer from," Abbas told reporters.

    Sarkozy would later send his minister of interior to Ramallah to place a wreath of flowers on late leader Yasser Arafat's tomb. Sarkozy and his wife will also visit the Church of Nativity later on Tuesday.