Patience with Israel tested over video stunt as EU pushes for two-state solution

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz, on Monday (22 January), sidestepped a discussion on the situation in Gaza and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at talks with EU counterparts, opting to show them aspirational videos of future infrastructure projects in the region instead.

In a well-sequenced choreography, the EU27 first met Katz before they were due to sit down separately with the Palestinian Authority’s top diplomat, Riyad al-Maliki.

Afterwards, they held a separate session with their counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan to discuss the current crisis in Gaza and the broader Middle East.

In the meetings, EU foreign ministers were keen to stress their calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of a comprehensive long-term peace plan, presented by the bloc’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell, reported by Euractiv over the weekend.

But Katz showed the room videos of an envisioned artificial island off the coast of Gaza and a rail network linking the Middle East to India, Borrell and several other EU diplomats confirmed.

“The minister showed us a couple of videos which had little or nothing to do with the issues we were discussing,” Borrell told reporters after the talks, adding that he thought Katz “could have made better use of his time” in the discussion with his EU counterpart.

EU diplomats said the videos were part of ideas presented by Katz in a previous role as Israel’s transport minister nearly a decade ago and had surprised others in the room.

But EU diplomats said Katz did not suggest the island could be used to house Gazans, nor did he link the initiative to the so-called two-state solution.

“Still, it was rather surreal that instead of the dire situation on the ground, the Israeli side talked about infrastructure projects,” one of the EU diplomats said.

Most EU foreign ministers were unsettled by the disparity, according to people familiar with the discussions in the room.

EU peace push

Ahead of Monday’s talks, Borrell circulated a non-paper he called a “comprehensive approach” towards peace to EU member states, outlining a roadmap to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It outlined a series of steps that could eventually bring peace to the Gaza Strip, establish an independent Palestinian state, normalise relations between Israel and the Arab world, and guarantee long-term security in the region.

A centrepiece of the EU’s future peace roadmap is a “Preparatory Peace Conference” involving the EU, the US, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Arab League and the United Nations.

The non-paper also said the international community should eventually “set out the consequences they envisage to attach to engagement or non-engagement with the peace plan” by either side.

While the paper featured in the discussion, EU diplomats said there was little progress on shifting Israel’s position a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed a hard line against any Palestinian state on the basis that it would pose “an existential danger” to Tel Aviv.

On his way into the talks, Katz told reporters he wanted the EU to focus on efforts to crack down on Hamas’ network and to help free the hostages held by the militant group, but refused to take questions from reporters.

“The member states have all told him (Katz), of course, that they believe that the solution for a permanent and lasting peace that guarantees Israel’s security (…) comes about with the creation of a Palestinian state,” Borrell told reporters after the meeting.

“This surely didn’t make him change his mind, but we didn’t expect anything to the contrary,” he added.

According to EU diplomats, there is broad backing in the bloc for a two-state solution, but question marks remain on how to achieve it in the current circumstances.

“The two-state solution is the only solution, and even those who don’t want to know about it have not yet come up with any other alternative,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters.

“There seems to be at least common ground on the fact that we need to push for a two-state solution now, the bigger question will be how to achieve it,” a second EU diplomat said.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Borrell said he wanted to press ahead with international efforts to implement a two-state solution, which he said had broad support among member states, although he did not spell out how this could be achieved if Israel continued to oppose it.

Previous peace talk attempts in the conflict collapsed a decade ago amid mutual mistrust and a refusal to sign up to the process.

“We have engaged in over 30 years of process, and look where that has got us,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters before the talks, referring to intermittent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks since the 1990s.

“A moment of truth is upon us. Do we allow a radical racist agenda to dictate the future or come together and say the path is clear, we want peace for everybody, and a two-state solution is the only path, go ahead and implement it?” he added.

Peace plans multiply

The EU’s initiative comes as Israel faces mounting international pressure to end its offensive in besieged Gaza.

Arab states, too, are working on an initiative to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza as part of a broader plan that could offer Israel a normalisation of relations if it agrees to “irreversible” steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state.

Arab officials have discussed the plan, which could include Western nations agreeing to formally recognise a Palestinian state or supporting the Palestinians being granted full membership of the UN with the US and European governments.

The US is also stepping up efforts to broker a diplomatic solution to the intensifying hostilities between Israel and Lebanon’s Hizbollah.

“We will be in contact with our American friends about any initiative they have that we can share or if they want to join any initiative that has sufficient support from the international community,” Borrell said.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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