In discussions over dinner ahead of a two-day meeting, foreign ministers from the 27-member bloc called on divided Palestinian factions to unite to make a recently-brokered ceasefire permanent (EurActiv 19/01/09) and to ease the distribution of humanitarian aid to civilian victims in Gaza.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, stressed the EU view that a united Palestinian government led by President Mahmoud Abbas was fundamental to progress, and called for crossings to Gaza to be kept open "on a regular and predictable basis".
The ministers invited their counterparts from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority to attend the meeting. Egypt has a particular role to play, as it has leverage over the Hamas militants who rule the Gaza strip, a diplomat told EurActiv.
Hamas is on the EU's list of terrorist organisations, but Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb and even their French colleague Bernard Kouchner are of the opinion that if progress is to be achieved, there is a need to "talk to Hamas", a diplomat told EurActiv, adding that his country is more "neutral" in this context.
"But the more we do, the more we need to work with the [Hamas] authorities of Gaza," the diplomat further said.
The Union is also divided as to whether to condemn Israel for the Gaza operation, which took the lives of over 1300 people, most of them civilians. Israel used phosphorus bombs, the use of which is prohibited in densely-populated areas, and bombed the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) compound in Gaza City.
Ireland, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, and Sweden are demanding an international inquiry into alleged violations of international law by both Israel and the Hamas terror group. Yet Germany, Italy, the Nethelands and Romania are reluctant to challenge Israel for fear of sabotaging the EU's push for Tel Aviv to open the Gaza crossings, according to diplomatic sources quoted in the Israeli press.
(With agencies.)
