EU foreign ministers are analyzing this Monday in Brussels a “comprehensive” peace plan put on the table by the High Representative for EU Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, amid growing international pressure on Israel to tone down the offensive in Gaza. The meeting is not intended to be just another meeting, and the heads of European diplomacy, who will also meet with the Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers, as well as with the representatives of the main countries of the region, will analyze this document, available to EL PAÍS Access, the Proposes the holding of a “preparatory” peace conference with international participation to lay the foundation for a final negotiation of a two-state solution.
The 12-point plan, sent to European capitals on the eve of this Monday's meeting in Brussels together with several key players in the conflict region and promoted in other ways over the weekend, emphasizes the need to “prepare now.” Given the current situation and despite the obvious difficulties and uncertainties, a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.” Because the “absence” of such a vision will only “prolong the current violence and prepare the ground for greater radicalization and new conflicts,” which is beyond his The impact in the region also poses a “major security, political and immigration risk” for the region and for Europe,” the document warns.
Borrell's plan, as the head of European diplomacy has repeatedly emphasized, involves a solution between two states “living side by side in peace and security” and which envisages the celebration “soon” at the “first possible opportunity”. a “preparatory” peace conference with the region’s Arab allies, the United States, the United Nations and “potential contributors to a comprehensive peace.” In this preparatory conference, which should be accompanied by “separate meetings with each of the parties to the conflict”, since at the moment it is almost impossible to get everyone at the table or even to convince some parties to start negotiations, “ “A first draft for “a peace plan” must be presented with an agenda so that it can be completed “within a year,” the document continues.
“We need to stop talking about the peace process and start talking more specifically about the two-state process. “Let’s talk about what we want to do, and what we want is a two-state solution,” Borrell recalled at the start of the meeting of ministers, which also included the proposal of the head of European diplomacy for a protection mission shipping in the Red Sea, in which Spain has already declared that it will not take part – but a concrete decision is not expected.
On the contrary, the initiative for a peace plan for the Middle East with concrete horizons and concrete goals finds clear Spanish support: “Spain is completely in favor of taking a further step, not only to talk about a two-state solution, but.” “The realization of two states and one Palestinian state (…) is realistic and viable, which means that Gaza and the West Bank are under the same Palestinian Authority, connected and with access to the sea and with its capital in East Jerusalem,” he told the Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, who recalled that this is “the core and substance” of the Spanish peace conference proposal approved last year by the Community partners.
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel also called it “a step in the right direction,” while his Irish counterpart Michéal Martin urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reject the creation of a Palestinian state. “listening to the rest of the world who want a two-state solution.” There is no other alternative that is sustainable and can continue to exist in the future,” he remembers.
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Borrell's proposed peace plan, the document emphasizes, should include “robust security guarantees” for Israel and a future “independent” Palestinian state. Although the parties should be consulted “continuously” throughout the peace process, their willingness to accept a solution, particularly in light of the Israeli government's refusal to accept a Palestinian state, should not be an obstacle to continuing peace negotiations, it said Document. which “should begin and continue even if one or the other conflicting party is not prepared to take part in the talks”. Of course, the final text must be negotiated between the two parties to the conflict, but in order to “facilitate” these negotiations, the states and organizations that have taken part in the peace process should “make clear at this moment what consequences they foresee.” Acceptance or non-acceptance of the peace plan.”
The difficulty of bringing the two main parties to the same negotiating table for the time being was evident this Monday in Brussels, where Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz did not even mention the question of possible talks or the creation of a Palestinian state upon arrival at his meeting with his counterparts from the Twenty- Seven. In brief statements to the press, Katz, who showed photos of some of the latest Israeli hostages held by Hamas, limited himself to pointing out that the return of all hostages from his country and the “restoration of security” of Israel were the two topics his agenda in the Belgian capital.
In addition to the meeting with Katz, the EU foreign ministers held a breakfast this Monday with their Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, with whom they are also planning a lunch that will be extended to other key players in the region: their counterpart from Jordan, Ayman Safidi and Saudi Arabia, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, as well as with the head of the Arab League, Ahmed Abu Gheit. In the afternoon, European ministers also invited Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al Maliki to their plenary session before returning to discuss together behind closed doors a conflict in which the EU has not yet gained a fully clear voice.
Although the Twenty-Seven approved on Friday a new sanctions regime against those who provide financial support to Hamas, the second part of Borrell's proposal, which also sanctions violent extremist settlers in the West Bank, has not yet achieved the necessary unanimity of all parties involved, the French Foreign Minister said Stéphane Séjourné expressed his hope that an agreement could be reached in this regard “in the coming days”.
The ministers also discussed this Monday the war in Ukraine, a country that can count on the support of the EU “as strongly as ever”, assured Borrell and several ministers upon their arrival to the meeting attended by their minister participated via telephone conference. Ukrainian peer Dmitro Kuleba. “The fact that we are involved in finding a solution in the Middle East does not mean that we do not continue to support Ukraine,” the head of European diplomacy emphasized. However, the big decisions, particularly the necessary Ukrainian funding, will be made at the extraordinary summit of heads of state and government scheduled for February 1, which will attempt to override or bypass the Hungarian veto on approving the agreed multi-year financial aid. 50 billion for Ukraine.
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