Israel attacks EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell over his position on the conflict in Gaza. Israeli diplomacy has decided that it will no longer consider Israel as a valid interlocutor of the European bloc in the Middle East conflict because “it has sided with the Palestinians.” He will also not accept the peace plan, which aims to promote a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine with the help of the international community. This forceful response comes just 24 hours after Borrell defended an initiative to end the destruction in the Gaza Strip before the foreign ministers of the 27 member states.
“Israel has lost trust” in Borrell and “does not see him as a balanced EU interlocutor,” official Israeli sources told EL PAÍS. The authorities of this country reject the 12-point plan presented on Monday by the head of European diplomacy and discussed with ministers. The project envisages holding a “preparatory” peace conference and parallel talks with the parties willing to negotiate as soon as possible until the two main interlocutors manage to sit down at the table and agree on a solution. According to the roadmap outlined, this must necessarily include the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside the Israeli state.
According to the sources consulted, Borrell's attitude towards Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz during the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Monday was the final straw. There, the High Representative (and a significant number of European ministers) expressed surprise at the videos provided during the debate, which were far removed from the focus of the discussion, namely the destruction in Gaza. But Borrell had been increasingly angering Israel for several weeks.
Benjamin Netanyahu's government has remained silent so far, but is taking careful note of what it sees as increasingly inappropriate statements by the head of European diplomacy. The outrage grew at least from his call to “impose” a peace solution on the region from outside, as he said in Lisbon earlier this year, to his controversial remarks on Friday in Valladolid, when he accused Israel of funding Hamas. . According to the sources consulted, these were statements made by Prime Minister Netanyahu that were taken out of context. “Hamas was funded by the Israeli government to weaken the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority.” [organización política fundada por el exlíder palestino Yaser Arafat en 1958, 10 años después de la independencia israelí]” said Borrell after being awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Valladolid.
However, what angered Israel most was the ironic tone of the High Representative after the meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels. He used it when commenting at a press conference on the decision of the head of Israeli diplomacy, Israel Katz, to show two videos, one about the project of an artificial island off Gaza and one about a railway connection. In Borrell's words, both recordings had “little or nothing” to do with the topic under discussion, measures to alleviate the conflict.
“I think the minister could have used his time better to address the security of his country and the high number of deaths in Gaza,” Borrell told reporters. The diplomatic sources consulted by this newspaper admit that Katz's decision to show these two long-term projects, while European ministers were urging him to alleviate the serious humanitarian situation of the Palestinian population in Gaza, caused at least surprise among some present. Despite all this, Israeli diplomacy maintains that Borrell was aware of Katz's intention to make this presentation and considers that his attitude is inconsistent with the Israeli foreign minister's willingness to attend the meeting in Brussels. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki and his counterparts from Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia as well as Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit also traveled to the Belgian capital.
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In statements this Tuesday, before knowing the Israeli response, Borrell once again defended the two-state solution and stated that Israel cannot have a “veto right” over the creation of a Palestinian state. If anything became clear from Monday's ministerial meeting, he added, it was that we need to “continue to talk and discuss” to “find ways to implement a solution.”
Israel claims that the high representative “went too far and took one side, the Palestinian one,” which is why he “no longer represents the EU line in the Middle East conflict.” As a result, the sources add, “Israel will not consider its peace plan as reliable and will continue to work to promote cooperation with the EU through other interlocutors.” Despite the different positions of the Twenty-Seven regarding the current conflict and Israel's actions, such as As became clear in the votes at the United Nations on the resolutions calling for a ceasefire, the position of two states was rejected as the only viable and lasting solution. The current Israeli government is divided by the bloc.
Nevertheless, the sources emphasize, without adding further details: “Israel will maintain its good relations with the EU.”
Given Borrell's stance, Israel has highly appreciated the very controversial initiative in Brussels of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who quickly traveled to the country together with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, following the terrorist attack by Hamas on January 7. October. The German took a position that was considered too biased towards Israel, particularly in the first days of the conflict – “Israel has the right to defend itself,” she declared alongside Netanyahu – which she only clarified after criticism from community partners who openly called for it Respect international law in the military response deployed in Gaza.
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