EU leaders want a bigger role in Gaza - Assalamu alaikum
Assalamu alaikum. EU leaders are pushing to play a more active part in Gaza and the occupied West Bank after being largely left out of the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. At a summit in Brussels focused mainly on Ukraine and Russia, EU heads of state talked about the fragile ceasefire in Gaza and promised support for stability in the devastated coastal area. The EU remains the largest aid donor to the Palestinians and a major trading partner for Israel.
“It’s important that Europe not just watch but take action,” said Luxembourg’s prime minister Luc Frieden as he entered the meeting. “Gaza isn’t finished; peace isn’t permanent yet.”
The war in Gaza has caused deep divisions within the 27-nation bloc and strained relations between Israel and the EU. In September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans to seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension on Israel to pressure progress toward a peace agreement; momentum for those measures slowed after the US-mediated ceasefire, with some leaders suggesting they be dropped. But others, from Ireland to the Netherlands, argue that since violence continues in Gaza and the West Bank, keeping sanctions on the table - including measures targeting some Israeli ministers and settlements and pausing parts of trade deals - gives the EU leverage to press for reduced military action.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that “Europe has essentially become irrelevant and displayed enormous weakness,” after the ceasefire was agreed without visible EU input. European leaders have since scrambled to become part of the diplomacy reshaping Gaza. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said Europe should do more than fund stability and reconstruction - it should participate actively.
The EU has supported the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank. At the summit’s end, EU leaders pledged to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, possibly by sea from Cyprus, and suggested expanding a West Bank police support program to Gaza to help form a stabilization force proposed in the ceasefire’s 20-point plan. The EU has sought membership in the plan’s transitional oversight “Board of Peace,” European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica said.
Denmark and Germany are among EU countries taking part in the new US-led stabilization effort to oversee the Gaza ceasefire, with their flags raised at the Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel. The European Border Assistance Mission at Rafah, on the Gaza-Egypt border, has operated since 2005 and in January deployed 20 border security experts from Italy, Spain and France. During the February–March pause in fighting, the mission helped more than 4,000 people leave Gaza, including many medical patients; those evacuations stopped when hostilities resumed.
Outside EU institutions, several countries have independently pressured Israel as protests spread from Barcelona to Oslo, and many have recognized a Palestinian state. Spain increased its criticism of Israel’s actions and announced plans for an arms embargo and to block Israel-bound fuel from Spanish ports, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calling the war a “genocide.” Slovenia announced its own arms embargo in August. There have also been calls to exclude Israel from cultural events like the Eurovision Song Contest, with member broadcasters set to vote in November on its participation next year amid growing demands for exclusion over the Israel-Hamas war.
May Allah grant safety and relief to the innocent people affected by this conflict, and guide leaders to just and lasting solutions.
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