Borrell: Israel cannot build peace by military means
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday insisted on a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, as he told Israel it could not build peace “only by military means” ahead of talks with Israeli and Palestinian diplomats.
Borrell repeated the United Nations’ condemnation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “unacceptable” rejection of calls for a Palestinian state after the war in Gaza.
“What we want to do is to build a two-state solution. So, let’s talk about it,” Borrell said.
He told Israel that “peace and stability cannot be built only by military means… Which are the other solutions they have in mind? To make all the Palestinians leave? To kill them off?” Borrell said.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday denounced Israel for the “heartbreaking” deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and called it unacceptable to resist statehood for the Palestinian people.
“Israel’s military operations have spread mass destruction and killed civilians on a scale unprecedented during my time as secretary-general,” Guterres said at the opening of a summit of the G77+China in the Ugandan capital Kampala.
“This is heartbreaking and utterly unacceptable. The Middle East is a tinder-box, we must do all we can to prevent conflict from igniting across the region.”
Israel’s assault on Gaza has left over 25,000 Palestinians dead, the vast majority women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The Health Ministry said Monday at least 25,295 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory.
The toll includes 190 fatalities in just 24 hours, a ministry statement said, while some 63,000 people in Gaza have been wounded in the conflict since October 7.
EU foreign ministers on Monday pressed Israel for an eventual two-state solution with the Palestinians after the war in Gaza, at meetings with the top diplomats from the two sides and key Arab states in Brussels.
The surprise Hamas attack on October 7 on the occupied territories and the subsequent devastating military response from Israel has plunged the Middle East into fresh turmoil and sparked fears of a broader conflict.
But while Israel’s bloodshed appears to have driven a long-term solution further out of sight, EU officials insist the time is now to talk about finally resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The 27 EU ministers met first with Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz before they were due to sit down separately with the Palestinian Authority’s top diplomat, Riyad al-Maliki.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia were also holding talks with the European ministers.
Netanyahu has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and defied key backer the United States by rejecting calls for a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has vowed “complete victory” over Hamas after the attacks by the resistance movement’s fighters on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Hamas fighters also seized about 240 hostages, and Israel says around 132 remain in besieged Gaza.
The EU has struggled for a united stance on the conflict in Gaza as staunch backers of Israel such as Germany have rejected demands for an immediate cease-fire made by the likes of Spain and Ireland.
But there is overall backing in the bloc for a two-state solution.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Israel’s “continuation of measures to undermine the two-state solution is dooming the future of the region to more conflicts and more war”.