The EU and Israel hold their first high-level talks in ten years

The EU and Israel hold their first high-level talks in ten years

Web Desk
October 3, 2022

The EU and Israel hold their first high-level talks in ten years

The EU and Israel have held high-level talks for the first time in 10 years.
The EU is keen to press Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on how to reach a two-state solution.
The last real peace talks ended in 2009, and prospects for peace look slim.

For the first time in ten years, the European Union and Israel have held high-level talks, with the bloc eager to press Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on how to implement a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, told Monday’s “Association Council” meeting that recent support for such an outcome from Lapid, who participated in the talks via video conference, had “encouraged” him.

“This is also something we want to advocate for.” “We want to restart a political process that can lead to a two-state solution and comprehensive regional peace,” said Borrell. “We need to figure out how to put this into action.”

The meeting on Monday was the first between the two sides since July 2012. While talks have resumed, the prospects for peace appear bleak.

The military occupation of the West Bank by Israel is now in its 55th year. The last genuine peace talks ended in 2009, and critics argue that expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and elsewhere undermine any hope for a two-state solution.

The EU, according to Borrell, is “concerned about the continued tensions and violence on the ground, as well as the continuation of unilateral measures, such as settlement expansion and security issues.”

“This year has seen the highest number of Palestinian deaths since 2007, and the forced transfers continue,” he said.

The Palestinians want a future state to include the entire occupied West Bank, as well as Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Palestinian group Hamas.

Last month, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the United Nations General Assembly that “our confidence in achieving a peace based on justice and international law is dwindling due to Israeli occupation policies.”

He accused Israel of continuing its “frantic campaign to confiscate our lands,” and claimed that the country’s military was “killing Palestinians in broad daylight” with impunity.

[embedpost slug=”irans-khamenei-blames-israel-and-the-us-in-protests/”]