European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and High Representative Josep Borrell elaborated EU’s position on the current geopolitical challenges and crises at the annual EU Ambassadors Conference which takes place this week in Brussels.
The meeting brings together EU Ambassadors from the 145 EU Delegations and Offices of the EU around the world, in addition to the Heads of EU military and civilian missions and the Heads of the European Commission Representations in all 27 EU Member States.
“Our ambassadors’ conference comes this year at a critical juncture,” said Josep Borell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security said on Monday.
“The next months will be crucial for global peace and security and the future of the world. The EU’s credibility will also be tested. As EU diplomats, we will work to preserve it and to stand up for the positive offer the EU has for our partners around the world.”
The three main issues in the speeches were Ukraine, the Middle East and China but the Israel-Hamas war dominated the debate. In his speech, Josep Borrell described briefly the history of the conflict and the failure until now to solve it. “This moral and political failure is due to a real lack of willingness to solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem.”
No credible roadmap to two-state solution
“Yes, we committed formally on the Two-State solution but without having any credible roadmap to achieve it. And today, the substance of the Israeli-Palestinian problem is not religious nor ethnic, it is a national problem. It is the problem of two people who have the equivalent right to exist on the same land. So, they need to share this land.”
Referring to the Oslo Peace Accords and the Oslo process that started in 1993, he asked: “Why has the Oslo Agreement not been implemented? Because the forces of denial in both camps have continued growing under the hubris of some and the desperation of others.”
“We have not implemented it at all. That is the problem,” he said. While the two parties originally started to implement the agreements in good faith, it never reached the final status issues because the process dragged out on time and was disrupted by Hamas’ suicide bombings and changes in the Israeli government.
The current Israeli – Palestinian arrangements are based on the Oslo Accords that Hamas rejected when it took power in the Gaza Strip after the Israeli unilateral withdrawal in 2005 and installed an Islamist totalitarian regime there.
He also remarked on the United Nations where Russia and China have vetoed resolutions condemning the Hamas attack. “You can see that at the UN where the Security Council is unable to reach any kind of agreement, and then they go to UN General Assembly (UNGA) and then UNGA bypasses the vetoes of the Council, and [then] these decisions are rarely implemented because they are not binding.”
“On the Palestinian [side], the rise of Islamist extremism who want to destroy Israel and threaten the West, who in their view, we protect Israel – and certainly, we do,” he said, adding that, “That there is no successful military operation without a political strategy behind… But one thing has to be clear. We will not go back to the situation of the 6th of October 2023. This has to be an opportunity for peace.”
He has not visited the region since the outbreak of the war but announced at that he will not be participating throughout the whole week of the EU Ambassadors Conference in Brussels as he has “been called to go somewhere else in the world and particularly to the Middle East, as you may understand." He is currently in Japan and asked about his travel schedule this week at the Commission’s press conference yesterday, the spokesperson replied that it was not known yet.
The essential starting point
In her speech at the Ambassadors Conference, European Commission President von der Leyen said that the Hamas attack “continues to be the essential starting point and also is what gives us the credibility to discuss Israel's response to Hamas' terror. Supporting Israel is essential.”
“And that is why it was necessary and appropriate that so many European leaders visited Israel in the wake of the terrorist attack,” she explained.
“Aiding civilians in Gaza is essential, too. The humanitarian situation is dire. The death toll and the suffering of Palestinian civilians is tragic. And as policymakers, we face a dreadful dilemma. Israel has the right to defend itself while Hamas bunkers, hides fighters and stores weapons below refugee camps and civilian infrastructure. Hamas is clearly using innocent Palestinians and hostages as human shields.”
Both Borrell and von der Leyen called on Israel to respect international and humanitarian law and stressed the need for EU engagement to solve the conflict.
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“As we deal with the urgency of today, we must also make the effort to think about tomorrow,” von der Leyen said. “And I know all of you as allies to imagine what a lasting peace may look like. And, even in these times, to restore hope for Palestinians and Israelis. And for this, they need a perspective. And the perspective is the two-state solution.” She listed five priorities or red lines:
“First of all, Gaza can be no safe haven for terrorists. Second, this implies that the terrorist organisation Hamas cannot control or govern Gaza. There should be only one Palestinian Authority, and one Palestinian State. Third, there can be no long-term Israeli security presence in Gaza. Fourth, no forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. And finally, no sustained blockade of Gaza. This policy has not worked.”
Asked if Israel will resume the peace process after Hamas has been defeated, Haim Regev, Israel's Ambassador to the EU and NATO in Brussels, told the Brussels Times that, “right now, we are focusing on fighting Hamas.”
This is also the standard response from the Israeli government which before the war had lost all interest in offering the Palestinians a political perspective. “Israel is looking into the possibility of an international coalition against Hamas, as proposed by French president Macron,” he added.
Such a coalition could deprive Hamas of any support by other countries and shorten the duration of the war but it does not replace restarting the peace process. Most commentators agree that a political perspective is necessary to preserve the international legitimacy for dismantling Hamas despite the high costs linked to the goal and breaking the vicious circle of hatred and constant wars.
M.Apelblat
The Brussels Times
