This article was originally published by Maan News and is republished with permission.

An informal international Middle East peace conference opened in the Spanish capital of Madrid on Thursday morning, 15 years after the first Madrid Conference which preceded the Oslo peace process.

The participants in the Madrid+15 conference, who include Palestinians, Israelis, Egyptians, Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanians and Saudi Arabians, in addition to a number of European and American dignitaries, have stressed the need for a greater international focus on reaching a Middle East peace settlement.

Several Palestinian dignitaries are participating in the conference, including the following Palestinian Legislative Council members: Mustafa Barghouthi, Hanan Ashrawi, Jibreel Rajoub, Muhammad Shtayya, Sufian Abu Zaida and Nabil Sha'ath.

From the Israeli side are former ministers Ophir Pines-Paz and Shlomo Ben-Ami, and members of the Israeli Knesset Hasson and Dalia Rabin.

Dr Hanan Ashrawi, the head of the Palestinian moderate party 'The Third Way', addressed the conference on behalf of the Palestinian delegation. In her speech, Dr Ashrawi, who also participated in the original Madrid negotiations in 1991, referred to the two-state solution as the best solution available. She called for UN involvement in any future political movement and stressed that a timescale should be set for an international peace conference.

Referring to the agreement reached at the Arab League's summit in 2002, in which the Arab states agreed to normalise relations with Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967, Ashrawi also called on the conference's participants to support the Arab initiative. She also appealed for comprehensive solutions that would ensure a halt to Israel building new settlements in the occupied West Bank, demolishing Palestinian houses and assassinations.

In addition, she called for the immediate release of Palestinian prisoners. She also spoke of the international blockade imposed on Palestinian society by the international community since the election victory of Hamas in January 2006, which she said should be lifted.

Dr Ashrawi added: "The European countries are serious in calling for a peace conference, especially after the absence of an American role which has always sided with Israel. The peace conference is urgent, yet it is important to define that conference and the measures that will follow it."

For his part, a member of the Fatah revolutionary council, Jibreel Rajoub, demanded that the Israeli assaults against the Palestinian people be brought to an end. He also explained that the Palestinians have extended a hand for peace under international supervision, based on the Arab initiative and the Road Map.

Dr Mustafa Barghouthi, the head of the Palestinian party 'Palestinian National Initiative', told Ma'an that despite the fact that the conference is informal, it is very important in supporting the idea of avoiding partial solutions which "we have been supporting over the past two years".

Sufian Abu Zaida, minister of prisoners' affairs during the former Fatah government, called for domestic Palestinian agreement. He stressed that the Palestinians will not be happy with Jerusalem, the refugees and an independent state if they are deprived of security and food.

From the Israeli side, Prof. Ben-Ami, who also participated in Madrid 1991, reiterated the need for international efforts: "The situation in the Middle East necessitates international diplomatic efforts for peace. Time is running out," he told the Israeli newspaper 'Yedioth Ahronoth'.

Egypt's presidential political advisor Osama El-Baz supported Dr Ashrawi in her call for European mediation: "The European community is the most fitting mediator to help solve the Arab-Israeli conflict and to reach an agreement with which we all can live. The Europeans have always been closer to us than others," he is quoted as saying in 'Yedioth Ahronoth'.

Representing Syria is Riad Daoudi who demanded that Israel needs to withdraw from the Golan Heights to the 1967 borders.

Other speakers at the conference include many current and former foreign ministers, including the current foreign ministers of Spain, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League, will also speak, as will Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU Commissioner for External Relations and Javier Solana, the EU's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. There will also be representatives from the United Nations, such as Alvaro de Soto, the UN Special Coordinator to the Middle East Peace Process. Other expected speakers include André Azoulay, Counselor to His Majesty the King of Morocco; Hans Blix, former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Ambassador Samuel Lewis, former Director of the US State Department's Policy Planning Staff.

The Madrid+15 conference was organized by five international civil society organizations - the Toledo International Center for Peace, Search for Common Ground, Fundacion Tres Culturas, the FAFO Institute and the International Crisis Group. The five groups joined efforts to call this conference to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the 1991 Madrid peace conference.

"The aim is to re-energize Middle East peace talks," John Marks, President of Search for Common Ground, says in a press release from his organization. "Despite all the obstacles, we hope to re-start meaningful negotiations."

According to Emilio Cassinello, Director General of the Toledo International Center for Peace, "Madrid+15 aims at achieving three goals: delivering a message that all parties can convene and that differences are not insurmountable; building on the work of the last fifteen years to map the expectations and concerns of all; and serving as a springboard for official talks." The meeting will also link the efforts of civil society with former and current officials.