- Home
- Israel Hamas War
- Borrell Worried About Rising West Bank Tensions
©(Johan ORDONEZ, AFP)
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed his worries on Sunday about the mounting tensions in the West Bank, claiming that they obstruct peace in the region. He also emphasized the need for the EU to support the "Arab initiative" to foster Palestinian statehood.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Sunday that the situation in the Israel-occupied West Bank posed a major obstacle to finding a long-term solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
"The West Bank is the real obstacle for the two-state solution," Borrell said at the Munich Security Conference.
"The West Bank is boiling... we could be on the eve of a greater explosion," he said.
Around 490,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, which Israel has been occupying since 1967, in dozens of settlements that are deemed illegal under international law. The settlers live alongside around three million Palestinians in the territory.
Palestinians view the Israeli settlements as a war crime and a major obstacle to peace, but many national-religious hardliners see living there as fulfilling a divine promise.
Borrell said that the EU needed to "support the Arab initiative" to establish a Palestinian state, including both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Borrell's comments come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a plan for international recognition of such a state, following reports of such an initiative in The Washington Post.
The US newspaper reported that US President Joe Biden's administration and a small group of Arab nations were working out a comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
It includes a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, the report said.
A question mark remains over who would lead a post-war Palestinian state. The US pinned its hopes on a reformed Palestinian Authority to be a better partner for Israel.
Speaking at the Munich conference, the Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that the Palestinian Authority "(does) not have a partner in Israel."
"We need to move from talking about two states to the implementation of two states," Shtayyeh said.
With AFP
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Sunday that the situation in the Israel-occupied West Bank posed a major obstacle to finding a long-term solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
"The West Bank is the real obstacle for the two-state solution," Borrell said at the Munich Security Conference.
"The West Bank is boiling... we could be on the eve of a greater explosion," he said.
Around 490,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, which Israel has been occupying since 1967, in dozens of settlements that are deemed illegal under international law. The settlers live alongside around three million Palestinians in the territory.
Palestinians view the Israeli settlements as a war crime and a major obstacle to peace, but many national-religious hardliners see living there as fulfilling a divine promise.
Borrell said that the EU needed to "support the Arab initiative" to establish a Palestinian state, including both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Borrell's comments come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a plan for international recognition of such a state, following reports of such an initiative in The Washington Post.
The US newspaper reported that US President Joe Biden's administration and a small group of Arab nations were working out a comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
It includes a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, the report said.
A question mark remains over who would lead a post-war Palestinian state. The US pinned its hopes on a reformed Palestinian Authority to be a better partner for Israel.
Speaking at the Munich conference, the Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that the Palestinian Authority "(does) not have a partner in Israel."
"We need to move from talking about two states to the implementation of two states," Shtayyeh said.
With AFP
This Is Beirut
Comments