The European Union (EU) is preparing a ten-point peace plan to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, which includes the creation of two states and the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab world, according to a report published this Saturday. the Euractiv information portal, a partner of the EFE Agency, which had access to the draft.
Community sources confirmed to EFE the existence of the text, which was prepared by the European External Action Service (Seae) – the EU's diplomatic body – and which aims to propose a “credible and comprehensive solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Among the proposed measures is the creation of an independent Palestinian state “living side by side with Israel” and the “full normalization” of relations between the Jewish state and countries in the Arab world.
Community sources told EFE that the EU's high representative for Foreign Affairs, Spaniard Josep Borrell, was involved in the preparation of this document.
The European bloc's plan excludes the Islamic movement Hamas, which currently governs Gaza and is considered a terrorist group by the EU and the United States, as a Palestinian interlocutor. The territories of Gaza and the West Bank would be represented in eventual peace negotiations by the Palestinian National Authority (ANP) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), according to the project. “The Palestinians will need a revitalized political alternative to Hamas,” says the EU plan cited by Euractiv, which makes the end of the conflict subject to the establishment of peace negotiations that, in the first instance, would be led by the international community.
Negotiations would be “triangulated” to avoid initial clashes between Palestinians and Israelis
In the document, the EU considers that it is unrealistic to assume that in the near future Israelis and Palestinians will want to participate “in bilateral peace negotiations to achieve a comprehensive peace, much less conclude these negotiations”. To prevent Palestinians and Israelis from having to sit at the same table from the start, the EU roadmap proposes “strong international participation” in the entire process, which would begin with the holding of a preparatory peace conference that would lay the foundations for subsequent negotiation. The conference would feature the participation of the EU, the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Arab League and the United Nations; all of them in constant contact with Israeli and Palestinian officials “at every step and at any time”, with the aim of designing, within a year, the first draft of a peace plan.
The document would take into account the comments of all parties involved, as well as UN resolutions and European Council conclusions, and would be passed on as a kind of starting point to the “conflicting parties”, who would then negotiate the final text. In the EU's opinion, this process should also include “a peace support package” as an incentive for negotiations to reach a successful conclusion.
This draft comes shortly before, on Monday, the foreign ministers of EU countries meet in Brussels to address the crisis triggered in the Middle East following the war in the Gaza Strip. A spokesperson for the European Commission explained to EFE that, during the meeting, ministers will discuss formulas that could revive the peace process between Israel and Palestine.
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