EU foreign ministers reject suspending dialogue with Israel

ATHENS

European Union foreign ministers decided Monday at a meeting in Brussels to reject a proposal by foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to suspend the bloc’s diplomatic dialogue with Israel.

Speaking at his last press briefing as the bloc’s foreign policy chief following the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, Borrell drew attention to the “apocalyptical” situation in Gaza and rapidly worsening humanitarian situation in Lebanon.

He said that "70% of the casualties (in Gaza) are children or women. In Lebanon, 100,000 houses have been destroyed. In Gaza, 2 million people (moved) from one side to the other of the Strip. The most frequent age of the casualties in Gaza is 5 to 9 years old. This is a war against children.

“This is why I proposed the suspension of the association agreement with Israel," he added.

“Most of the member states considered that it was much better to continue having a diplomatic and political relationship with Israel. So the decision was not taken into consideration as expected. But at least I put on the table all the information used by UN organizations and every international organization working in Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon in order to judge the way war is being waged (by Israel).”

Mentioning the need to act against illegal Israeli settlers and the violence and destruction they commit, Borrell stressed that importance of sanctioning them and trade with the illegal settlements.

Noting that more than rhetoric is required to end the wars in the region and develop a lost lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict based on the two-state solution, Borrell maintained that both sides have to be put under pressure to this end.

“The key word is implementation -- not just recognition, not just expressing a wish, but implementation, doing something for this to happen. Otherwise, it will be words that bring us nowhere, and we need to go somewhere. We need to go for a settlement, for a solution to this endless crisis with so much suffering, so many people losing their lives,” he said.​​​​​​​

Last week, Borrell proposed to formally suspend political dialogue with Israel over its disregard for international law in the Gaza Strip, which needed approval from all 27 EU countries.

Israel has continued a devastating offensive on Gaza since an attack last year by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 43,900 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 103,898 injured, according to local health authorities.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.​​​​​​​