European failure to agree on suspending political dialogue with Israel
The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said that the proposal to suspend political dialogue with Israel due to its continued violations of human rights and international law in the Gaza Strip, hasn’t been accepted by all member states.
This came in a statement he made following the meeting of the European Union foreign ministers, on Monday, in the Belgian capital, Brussels.
Borrell explained that most EU member states believe that it would be much better to maintain diplomatic and political relations with Israel.
In response to a reporter’s question about why member states didn’t agree to suspend political dialogue with Israel despite all the massacres taking place in Gaza, he said: “History will hold us all accountable… I did what I thought I had to do”.
He added, “I put forward a proposal that I believe is correct, but member states aren’t obligated to agree to the proposals I put forward, and today they didn’t agree to my proposal”.
He referred to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, saying, “There is a horrific situation in Gaza, 70% of the missing are children and women… Millions of people have been displaced, and the ongoing war in Gaza is against children”.
The political dialogue between the European Union and Israel is regulated by the partnership agreement between the two sides that entered into force in 2000, and its suspension doesn’t mean the suspension of the partnership agreement between the two sides, according to EU diplomats.
Borrell’s proposal included a ban on the import of Israeli products produced in settlement factories established on the occupied Palestinian territories (meaning after 1967, over which the international community doesn’t recognize Israel’s authority).
