The European External Action Service (EEAS) informed the press on Tuesday that High Representative Josep Borrell had held discussions with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, and the Secretary of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). He also talked to UNRWA’s Commissioner-General.
According to the statement, he debriefed them on the discussions at the European Council meeting in Brussels last week.
In the Council conclusions, the EU reaffirmed its condemnation of Hamas’ "brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks" across Israel and emphasized Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law and international humanitarian law. For the first time, the EU added that “the use of civilians as human shields by Hamas is a particularly deplorable atrocity”.
Borrell also recalled Israel's obligation to comply with international law in conducting the war against Hamas, and the urgency for humanitarian access and humanitarian pauses to allow for vital supplies to reach those in need and the need to avoid regional spill-over.
He furthermore stressed the importance of protecting all civilians at all times and recalled the Council’s call on Hamas to immediately release all hostages without any preconditions.
In his exchange with the Secretary-General of the OIC, Borrell insisted on the need to avoid further alienation and polarization, and to foster mutual respect and religious tolerance, condemning recent Quran’s burning episodes, as well as attacks against Jewish communities.
In line with EU’s long-standing political position, he also discussed “the urgent need to restore the political horizon and relaunch the peace process, and to achieve a permanent sustainable settlement to this conflict, based on the two-state solution, in order to prevent such tragedies from recurring again”.
European Commission President von der Leyen added at the press conference after the Council meeting that Hamas must be defeated. Council President Michel also emphasised this point stating that there is no role for Hamas after the war.
Despite the common EU position, EU member states continue to vote differently in the United Nations General Assembly, with Belgium and some other member states voting last Friday in favour of a non-binding resolution on a humanitarian ceasefire and other countries abstaining or voting against it because of the omission of Hamas' terrorist attack.
Duration of war
The war continues for the fourth week since Hamas surprise terrorist attack on 7 October with massive Israeli air strikes in retaliation against Hamas targets, which have also killed thousands of civilians, and troops expanding the ground offensive in the north of the Gaza strip amid growing concerns about the humanitarian situation.
One aspect that hasn't been addressed much by the EU is the uncertainty about the duration of the war and the political aftermath after the war. Some military experts have said that the ground offensive should not take more than two weeks, even if Israel’s goals would not be completely met, in order not to risk an escalation to a multi-front war and a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
Asked about the minimum time required to dismantle Hamas, Amos Yadlin, a former Israeli air force general and head of the military intelligence, replied that this was Israel’s central dilemma. “We don’t have the five years it took the US and the international coalition to defeat ISIS (Islamic State),” he told The Brussels Times.
“If we have 5 months, I think that most of the objectives can be achieved. If we’ll have only 5 weeks on the other hand, the objectives won’t be completely achieved.”
Anyway, the day after the end of the war has to be different to what followed after previous rounds of hostilities, he underlined. Hamas might remain in Gaza even if most of its military infrastructure has been destroyed. “We aren’t going back to the same paradigm as before."
"On the contrary, this time Israel will disconnect totally from Gaza and continue to operate against Hamas if it tries to rebuild its military there. It will become a low-intensive war with the same defense doctrine that is applied in the West Bank against terrorist cells there. If Gaza continues to be ruled by Hamas, the mission won’t be completed.”
He sees Hamas as the biggest obstacle to any restart of the peace process which both the EU and the US want to see and are pressing Israel to agree to. It was Hamas which destroyed the Oslo Peace Accords in the 90-ies with its suicide bombings and made the second intifada so dreadful with bombings in busses and restaurants, he says.
Asked about the political aftermath once the war is over, Yadlin expressed cautious optimism. “If Hamas is defeated, I hope that the peace process can go forward. For the two state-solution to move forward, Hamas must be removed from any leadership role in the Palestinian Authority. In Israel, there should be a different government. Maybe this is the light in the very dark tunnel we are in now.”
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
