‘More questions than answers’ as EU and Middle East partners discuss post-war Gaza

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Senior European officials will be faced with “more questions than answers” when they sit down with counterparts from the Mediterranean region and the Gulf at a meeting in Barcelona on Monday to discuss the future of postwar Gaza, officials have said.

The war has made it clear that a two-state solution is more urgent than ever but how to achieve that objective remains unclear.

“There are more questions than answers about what the day after [the war] will look like. But we have to have a plan,” a senior EU official said at a briefing with journalists.

The EU’s External Action Service hopes to have a plan ready to present to the bloc’s foreign affairs ministers at a meeting next month.

The official said Israel chose not to be present at Monday’s forum of the Union for the Mediterranean despite being one of its 42 members.

Chaired by the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, the gathering will be attended by number of foreign affairs ministers from the EU in addition to 15 Mediterreanan countries, including Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine.

Mr Borrell has also extended an invitation to Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

He represents a ministerial group mandated by the Arab League and the Organisation for Islamic Co-operation at a November 11 summit in Riyad to reach out to the international community to work on a solution to the conflict.

The group, which has already made stops in Beijing, Paris and London, includes foreign affairs ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey and Palestine.

Arab leaders have reportedly told their European counterparts that they do not envision discussing the future of Gaza with the current Israeli government, which has shown little interest in a two-state solution and is the most right-wing in Israeli history.

The Palestinian Authority told Mr Borrell during a visit to the region last week that they were ready to take over the area with international backing once the war is over, EU sources said.