EU’s Borrell seizes on Gaza truce to push for two-state solution

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The Israel-Gaza conflict has provoked strong emotions that are hindering discussions on how best to find a peaceful solution to the war, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.

In a speech to the European Parliament, Mr Borrell recognised that the bloc’s 27 member states are divided over the war but warned “there cannot be a military solution”.

“One cannot kill an idea, the only way [forward] is to get a better idea,” said Mr Borrell, who has recently returned from a five-day trip to the Middle East.

“The better idea here can only be to recognise that when you have two peoples that have been fighting over the same land for 100 years, they need to be able to live together,” he said.

Mr Borrell was speaking shortly after the announcement by Israel of a four-day truce involving the release of 50 Hamas-held hostages and of 150 Palestinians detained in Israeli jails.

Like other EU leaders, the Spanish politician welcomed the release of hostages from the Gaza Strip as part of the agreement, which he described as an “extended pause”.

“After seven weeks of suffering, finally, they will be reunited with their families,” said Mr Borrell, who went a step further by calling for the “immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas”.

His boss, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said she would upscale further aid shipments to Gaza “as quickly as possible to alleviate the humanitarian crisis” in the enclave.

The commissioner in charge of humanitarian aid, Janez Lenarcic, said he “hoped it won’t be a one-off”.

Some of Mr Borrell’s language in his speech to Parliament reflects conversations he had during his November 16 – 20 trip to Israel, Palestine, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan.

In their meetings with Mr Borrell, Arab leaders told him that an alternative to Hamas needed to be offered to the Palestinian people, EU sources said.