The European Union and the United States are stepping up their diplomatic efforts to prevent the feared regional escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas, which is already beginning to spill over into their immediate borders, particularly in Lebanon, due to exchanges of fire with the Shiite militia Hezbollah. After his visit to Beirut at the weekend, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell has decided to continue his trip this Sunday and head to the Saudi capital Riyadh. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Qatar after a brief stop in Jordan as part of a trip that has already taken him to Turkey and Greece and which will continue in the coming days with visits to Israel and the Western Bank, the United Arab Emirates , the United States, Egypt and also Saudi Arabia.
After warning on Saturday in Beirut that it was “absolutely necessary to avoid a regional escalation in the Middle East” and especially in Lebanon, Borrell arrived in Riyadh this Sunday to meet with the highest local and regional authorities until Monday “ “To discuss all aspects of the situation in Gaza and the surrounding areas, including its impact on the region.” Also to address the “worrying escalation in the Red Sea,” his team said in a statement. Just three months after the conflict began with the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, Borrell will meet on October 7 with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Secretary General of the Saudi Gulf Cooperation Council Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi. He will discuss with both of them how “the conditions can be created to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israel, Palestine and the region.”
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Although the EU has not yet managed to speak with a single unequivocal voice on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, as Borrell himself has repeatedly acknowledged and regretted in recent weeks, the head of European diplomacy has not given up on its efforts. He is trying to contain the conflict and look for a solution, which, as he repeatedly emphasizes, includes a two-state solution, which, in his opinion, also requires decisive international action. In recent days, he spoke at a diplomatic seminar in Lisbon that the solution would have to be “imposed from outside” because the two parties were unable to negotiate peace on their own.
The United States, Israel's main international ally, is also insisting on a negotiated solution to the conflict, whose regional expansion also worries them greatly. This regional trip is Blinken's fourth trip to the region since October, as the Secretary of State himself recalled on Saturday before his departure from Greece, emphasizing that one of his priorities is to “prevent the spread of this conflict.” A message he repeated on Sunday to King Abdullah II of Jordan. “The conflict must not continue to spread throughout the region,” emphasized Blinken.
Resistance to forced expulsion
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For his part, the Jordanian monarch called on the US diplomatic chief to use Washington's influence on Israel to pressure it to accept an immediate ceasefire, warning the country of the “catastrophic consequences” of continuing the offensive in Gaza . Both also discussed the situation of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. In this sense, Blinken assured Abdullah II “of the US resistance to the forced expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the urgent need to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank from violence by extremist settlers,” said the ministry spokesman. of State, Matthew Miller, quoted by Portal. After his meeting with the Jordanian king, Blinken landed in Doha, where he planned to speak with Qatari authorities about efforts to release the more than a hundred Jewish hostages still in the hands of Hamas, the agency cited US diplomatic sources.
Germany has joined the international diplomatic effort, with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock setting off this Sunday on a new tour of the region – also the fourth since October – which will take her to Israel and the Palestinian territories as well as Egypt. Before her departure, Baerbock emphasized the need to “get out of the vicious circle of violence.” “It is time to finally lay the foundation for lasting peace and security,” which includes “attempting a two-state solution” in which “Israelis and Palestinians can live peacefully side by side,” he said in social media Networking.
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