Europe will seek a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
All European diplomacy is concentrated this Monday in Brussels with a particular focus on the war in Gaza. On the table, a document from Commission Vice President Josep Borrell, containing a ten-point plan "for a comprehensive and credible solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"In view of the current situation and despite the obvious difficulties, now is the time to prepare for a comprehensive peace between Israelis and Palestinians," reads the draft document.
Precisely, the European Union's foreign policy chief had taken center stage by proclaiming to public opinion something that was already known, but had not been widely publicized: that Hamas had been "financed by the Israeli government in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority of Fatah".
Hamas, an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement), was founded in 1987 to oppose Palestinian Islamic Jihad and rival the PLO, the movement led by Yasser Arafat.
Borrell, who emphasized this revelation when he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Valladolid, insisted that "to achieve peace, a two-state solution (Israeli and Palestinian) is necessary, which must be imposed from outside... If we do not intervene firmly, the spiral of hatred and violence will continue from generation to generation, from funeral to funeral".
Thus the document Borrell is presenting to the foreign ministers of the 27 outlines a series of steps that could eventually bring peace to the Gaza Strip, establish an independent Palestinian state, normalize relations between Israel and the Arab world and ensure the long-term security of the region.
A key element of the EU's future roadmap is a "Preparatory Peace Conference," which would involve the EU, the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Arab League and the United Nations.
Although informally, the 27 will discuss this with the new Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, who has replaced Eli Cohen according to a previously agreed rotation agreement. Katz comes to Brussels without deviating from the official argument of Benjamin Netanyahu's government: "We will achieve our objective of liquidating Hamas", he assured before leaving for the European capital.
Although it cannot be ruled out, Israel Katz will not meet his Palestinian counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki. However, the latter will also meet with the 27 in a separate session.
And, between their appearances, the European ministers and Borrell will meet the secretary general of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aoul Gheit, and the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Farhan bin Farhan Al Saud, Egypt, Sameh Shoukry, and Jordan, Ayman Safadi.
The day can therefore be described as an informal summit, in which the EU has sought to bring together all the parties in different sessions, without ruling out the always useful and often decisive bilateral meetings,
in addition to preparing the ground with significant actions and resolutions. Thus, last Thursday the European Parliament adopted in Strasbourg a resolution making a "cease-fire" in the war between Israel and Hamas conditional on the immediate release of the remaining hostages and the dismantling of Hamas itself, a resolution considered as a diplomatic victory for Israel in the European parliamentary assembly.
The Israeli mission to the EU stated that "this resolution shows that the Parliament "understands the cause of the war and the means to end it."
Prior to that, Spanish MEP Antonio Lopez-Isturiz had pointed out that "there can be no sustainable peace while Hamas and other terrorist organizations are hijacking the Palestinian cause and threatening Israel's existence."
The most striking of the actions prior to this summit, however, is that EU member states added Yahiya Sinwar, Hamas political leader and mastermind of the October 7 massacres in southern Israel, to the EU's list of individuals and terrorist organizations.