By Blessing Chinagorom
The European Union Commission has appreciated the role of Qatar, Egypt and others in achieving the 4-day truce in Gaza, but said much more is needed to alleviate the dire situation of the people and to find a way out of the current crisis, adding that the pause should be extended for sustainable and long-lasting while working for a political solution.
EU High Representative, Joseph Borell who made the call in his remarks at the 8th Regional Forum of Union for Mediterranean on Monday, said a political solution that will break the cycle of violence once and for all, saying the longer the extremists is allowed to set the agenda, the more extremism will it spread and not only in the region, but also affecting Europe as well.
According to him, “The violence spread by extremist settlers in the West Bank, many times under protection from the Israeli police and military, does not make Israel safer. The settlements are Israel’s greatest security liability. It is also for that reason that they are considered a grave breach of international humanitarian law”.
The EU Rep appalled to see that the Israel government plans to allocate another $43 million to increase the settlement activities and I have condemned it. “No army can guarantee a country’s safety better than peace can. Several decades of peace with Egypt and Jordan are the proof.
“But these peace agreements remain incomplete without peace with Palestinians. A Palestinian State in Gaza, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is the best and only long-term guarantee for Israel’s security. There will not be peace or security for Israel without a Palestinian State.
“To all of us in this room: we will all suffer from the consequences of a failure. A state that has failed to exist is still a failed state – and we know what this means for the neighbourhood and beyond. The region could not survive another Nakba, and the repercussions would be much worse than anything we have seen”, he said.
Borell noted that nothing can justify the indiscriminate brutality Hamas unleashed against civilians the 7th of October, but one horror cannot justify another horror, adding that International humanitarian law applies to everyone, at all times, and without exception.
He said, “The suffering of the civilian population of Gaza, depriving them of basic needs, the highly disproportionate death toll, including more than 5,000 Palestinian children, and turning half of Gaza into rubble. Gaza is more or less like Barcelona – 2.5 million [people].
“Just imagine half of this city being turned into rubble, in order to visualise what we are talking about. All [of] that, most of the public opinion around the world considers [it] unacceptable”, he lamented.
EU Rep stated that far too much is at stake for everyone: regional stability, internal security, cohesion and openness of the societies, the credibility of the rules-based order, the collective ability to cooperate in tackling common challenges, from terrorism to irregular migration.
“Peace between Israel and Palestine has become a strategic imperative for the entire Euro-Mediterranean community and beyond. I think there are some things on which we can agree. The first one is no to the return of Hamas to Gaza, as a political and military force. This organisation harmed everyone, including the Palestinian people.
“Secondly, no to the dismembering of the territory of Gaza. No to the re-colonisation of Gaza by Israel – thinking that if you increase your security by increasing your territory is an illusion, as the last 50 years have proved. It gives the illusion of security, but not security.
“And the third no is to the illegal colonisation of the West Bank, which is a major source of tension and one of the obstacles to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.If we agree on that, maybe we can agree also on [this]: the solution comes from the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza.
“A Palestinian Authority revitalised, because a territory without a state, is a territory which would be delivered to chaos, to violence, to terrorism and migration for which Europe will be the first to pay the price.
“Our distance from the battlefield is a pure illusion. Yes, there are 7,000 kilometres, but the consequences will reach us – and that is one reason for which, we, the Europeans, have to be part of looking for a solution with a strong engagement”, he said.
