Three months after its spectacular launch in Paris, a union of Mediterranean-rim nations is plagued by the same Arab-Israeli tensions that were the undoing of its predecessor, officials and experts say.

"There are very fierce discussions about the question of whether the Arab League should be allowed to participate. Suddenly, everything has ground to a halt," one European official said.

The new forum brings together the 27 countries of the European Union with states from north Africa, the Balkans and Arab nations with Israel to foster cooperation in one of the world's most volatile regions.

The Union for the Mediterranean -- brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- is set to meet in Marseille at the level of foreign ministers on November 3-4.

The meeting will decide the makeup and powers of a secretariat to supervise projects undertaken by the union, successor to the EU's 13-year-old Barcelona Process, a forum undermined by disputes between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

Clara Marina O'Donnel, at the Centre for European Reform in London, said the trouble is no "surprise, because all the difficult tricky procedural questions were not addressed, all the difficult things were delayed" till November.

"There was an undue optimism when Sarkozy started this union because basically he tried to rebrand it all without addressing the core strategic shortcomings," notably that some members "don't talk to each other," she said.

Indeed, the so-called "Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean" is largely inspired from the platform launched in Barcelona in 1995 to boost ties around the Sea, but which foundered largely due to the Middle East conflict.

France had hoped that this new union based on modest regional projects -- like cleaning up pollution in the Mediterranean -- rather than grand political aims would have been able to side-step the trap of regional disputes.

"There are always problems when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict and that's one of the reasons the Union for the Mediterranean was created," said another EU official.

"But you can't fix everything in a day. We hope to come up with solutions at the meeting in Marseille."

The latest dispute hinges on the way that Israel and Arab nations define the "observer status" which the union would grant to the Arab League, which Israel insists is not a state and should not take part.

A diplomat from one Arab nation said: "Arab countries want it to participate in all the meetings, whatever their level."

But a senior Israeli foreign ministry official said: "Everywhere it enters, it tries to work against the basic idea behind the Mediterranean union, which is cooperation. The Arab League is trying to drive Israel out of the union."

As a result of the standoff, a series of meetings meant to prepare the talks in Marseille have had to be cancelled, a number of EU officials confirmed.

Several bilateral meetings have taken place, but there remains "a plethora of candidates" to host the headquarters of the union, notably Barcelona and Tunis, which still has to be sorted out, one official said.

Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri said last week that issues surrounding the secretariat could be resolved next month, but that others might prove more difficult.

"We have to reassure some people at a political level who are asking questions about the Arab League's participation, and about the terms in which the Middle East conflict is addressed," he said.

Contrary to what was announced by France when the union was launched on July 13, the Palestinians are unhappy with its founding document and particularly the fact that it makes no mention of a peace process leading to two states.

Click here to view source