The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, spoke this Sunday with the Palestinian Prime Minister, Muhammad Shtayyeh, and the King of Jordan, Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein. Charles Michel should meet “later” with “the presidents of Israel and Egypt.”
A European Council source states that “the European Union strongly condemns terrorist violence, the urgent need to reduce tensions, calls for an end to hostilities and full respect for international humanitarian law and the need to preserve civilian life, liberation of the hostages as soon as possible, it is necessary to address the root causes of the conflict.
The same source emphasizes that “the European Union recognizes Israel’s right to self-defense, in accordance with international law and respecting international humanitarian law.”
In telephone contacts this Sunday, Charles Michel expressed to the Palestinian Prime Minister “strong support for the European Union initiative in New York, with regional partners.” This initiative builds on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and the 2013 EU “political, economic and security support package”, which provides incentives to Israel and Palestine, “so that the parties to the conflict achieve peace, also inspiring them in the existing relations between Israel and some Arab states.
“The immediate priority is to avoid further escalation and violence,” said Charles Michel, listening to the Palestinian side’s fear that “Israel will retaliate without sparing Palestinian civilian life.”
In this conversation with Muhammad Shtayyeh, both considered it “urgent to address the root causes of the conflict”, highlighting that “in recent months, [ocorreram] unprecedented tensions between the Israeli government and the Palestinians.
The call with Jordan’s king addressed the same issues, arguing that “the priority is de-escalation,” as well as “preventing large-scale violence from breaking out in the West Bank and preventing tensions between the Israeli and Arab communities.”
According to the source already cited by TSFCharles Michel and the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, considered that “leaders on both sides have the responsibility to tell radical/extremist sectors to act with restraint.”
The EU is and has always been a supporter of the Middle East peace process and efforts to ensure stability and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It is worth remembering that in his last speech before the United Nations General Assembly, the president of the European Council highlighted the need for “Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace side by side within the framework of the two-state solution” .
For years, the European Union “has been working very closely with various partners in the region to relaunch a political process that paves the way for the possibility of a negotiated agreement between Israelis and Palestinians,” the same source recalled.
On the sidelines of the UN Gelara Assembly, on September 18 in New York, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, “co-organized” with the Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and also the League of Arab States on “Day of Effort for Peace”. This meeting was intended to “encourage the parties to resume peace talks towards a two-state solution.”
“Efforts will continue through three working groups (political and security issues, economic and environmental issues, human dimension issues),” says a European source.
Source: TSF
