The foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) expressed this Monday their support for demanding a two-state solution in the Middle East, as requested by a peace plan outlined by the head of community diplomacy, Josep Borrell. “I think we have to stop talking about peace, a peace process, and start talking more specifically about a process for a two-state solution (…) The way we name it is important,” Borrell told the press upon his arrival. to a Council of EU Foreign Ministers.

European ministers will exchange views separately with their counterparts from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, as well as with the secretary general of the Arab League, who have been invited to Brussels. Borrell will present a decalogue to end the conflict between Israel and Palestine and that contemplates the creation of a Palestinian State and the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab world.

Consider that the international community take the lead in talks and that later Israelis and Palestinians will sit down to negotiate directly, between whom rules out the presence of the Islamist group Hamas. An idea that the solution comes from outside that Borrell already expressed on January 3 from Lisbon, when he said that “peace can only be achieved in a lasting way if the international community becomes dramatically involved in achieving it and imposes a solution.” “I think we must impose peace. I think everyone knows that the only way is a comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution,” agreed the Jordanian Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, upon his arrival at the Council.

Before the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to accept a two-state solutionBorrell said he was aware that he has “a different position” but recalled that the United Nations has requested this measure and that “the entire international community supports it.” “Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statements are unacceptable and do not contribute in any way to the prospects for peace,” said the Irish minister, Micheál Martin, who asked the Israeli leader “to listen to the vast majority of the world who want peace.” and that he wants a two-state solution.

The Finnish holder, Elina Valtonen, said that Netanyahu’s rejection of the creation of the Palestinian State “is not an acceptable position” and assured that, until that objective is achieved, there will be no peace in the entire Middle East region. To achieve this, the head of Latvian diplomacy, Krisjanis Karins, advocated putting pressure on Israel economically. “Europe’s greatest ability to influence has always been its wallet (…) We see that in European policies, money can help focus minds and I think we also have to start thinking about it internationally,” he said. “Netanyahu’s position is worrying, the two-state solution will be necessary,” insisted the French minister, Stéphane Séjourné.

He Luxembourg Foreign Minister Xavier Bettelconsidered that Borrell’s plan “is going in the right direction”, although he noted that what must be achieved now is a ceasefire.

They also requested the same Swedish Minister Tobias Billström, and the Spanish leader, José Manuel Albares, who demanded a ceasefire and the “materialization” of the Palestinian State. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that the creation of the two states is “complex”, but called for “not to bury our heads in the sand” and to “do everything possible to alleviate the dramatic suffering” of Israelis and Palestinians.