The EU and the US redouble their diplomatic efforts to avoid an escalation due to the war in Gaza

The European Union and the United States are intensifying their diplomatic efforts to avoid the feared regional escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas, which is already beginning to spill over into their immediate borders, especially in Lebanon, with the exchange of fire with the Shiite militia Hezbollah. After his visit to Beirut at the weekend, the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, has decided to continue his trip this Sunday and has headed to Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, visited Qatar after a brief stopover in Jordan, within the framework of a tour that has already taken him to Turkey and Greece and will continue in the coming days with visits to Israel, the West Bank, the Arab Emirates United States, Egypt and also Saudi Arabia.

After warning on Saturday in Beirut that it is “imperative to avoid a regional escalation in the Middle East,” especially in Lebanon, Borrell arrived in Riyadh this Sunday to discuss with the highest local and regional authorities, until Monday, “all aspects of the situation.” in Gaza and surrounding areas, including its impact on the region.” Also to deal with the “worrying escalation in the Red Sea,” according to his team in a statement. Just three months after the beginning of the conflict with the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, on October 7, Borrell will meet with the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and with the secretary general of the Saudi Cooperation Council. Gulf, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi. With both, he will discuss how to “create the conditions for achieving a just and lasting peace between Israel, Palestine and the region.”

Although the EU has not yet managed to speak with a single univocal voice regarding the conflict between Israel and Hamas, as Borrell himself has recognized – and regretted – repeatedly in recent weeks, the head of European diplomacy has not relented in your efforts. He tries to contain the conflict and look for a solution that involves, as he never tires of repeating, a two-state solution that, he also believes, requires decisive international action. In recent days, at a diplomatic seminar in Lisbon, he spoke of the need for the solution to be “imposed from the outside,” given that the two parties are incapable of negotiating peace on their own.

The United States, Israel's main international ally, also insists on achieving a negotiated solution to the conflict, whose regional expansion also worries it greatly. This regional trip is Blinken's fourth to the region since October, as the Secretary of State himself recalled on Saturday before leaving Greece, where he highlighted that one of his priorities is “to prevent this conflict from spreading.” A message he reiterated before King Abdullah II of Jordan on Sunday. “The conflict must not spread further throughout the region,” Blinken insisted.

Opposition to forced displacement

For his part, the Jordanian monarch urged the head of US diplomacy to use Washington's influence over Israel to pressure it to accept an immediate ceasefire, warning it of the “catastrophic repercussions” of continuing the offensive in Gaza. Both also discussed the situation of civilians in the Strip. In this sense, Blinken assured Abdullah II of “the US opposition to the forced displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza and the critical need to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank from violence by extremist settlers,” according to the Department spokesperson. of State, Matthew Miller, quoted by Reuters. After his meeting with the Jordanian king, Blinken landed in Doha, where he planned to speak with the Qatari authorities about efforts to free the more than a hundred Jewish hostages still in the hands of Hamas, the agency quotes US diplomatic sources. .

Germany has joined the international diplomatic efforts, whose Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, embarked this Sunday on a new tour of the region – also the fourth since October – that will take her to Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as Egypt. . Before she left, Baerbock insisted on the need to “get out of the cycle of violence.” “The time has come to finally lay the foundations for lasting peace and security,” which involves “attempt[ing]a two-state solution” in which “Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side peacefully,” he declared. on social networks.

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