2023-10-27 16:39:51
“Corridors and humanitarian truces” to ensure the distribution of aid to the civilian population of Gaza. This is ultimately what the European Council is asking for. He arrived at this formulation in pain, late in the night from Thursday October 26 to Friday October 27.
Indeed, not all the states of the European Union (EU) have the same vision of the response to the war in the Middle East. Some countries, such as Ireland or Spain, largely insist on the necessary solidarity towards Palestinian civilians, while others defend Israel more, like Germany, Austria and Hungary.
In Brussels, the head of the Spanish government Pedro Sanchez, for example, reaffirmed his support for “a ceasefire for humanitarian purposes (…) to deliver all the aid the Palestinians need”. But for other delegations, there is no question of mentioning a ceasefire in the conclusions. “Israel is a democratic state, with very humanitarian principles that guide it. We can be sure that the Israeli army will respect the rules of international law”judged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his part.
All agree to condemn Hamas
The only certainty shared by the Twenty-Seven: Hamas must be condemned. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen hammered home this during a press conference on the same night from Thursday to Friday: “Israel is a democracy that was attacked by a terrorist organization, Hamas. »
As in its statement of October 15, the European Council condemns “with the greatest firmness Hamas for its atrocious and indiscriminate terrorist attacks in Israel”. The leaders specify that “the use of civilians as human shields by Hamas is a particularly distressing atrocity”. Again they insist “firmly on Israel’s right to defend itself in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law”.
The paragraph that caused the most difficulty is the sixteenth of the declaration, which therefore concerns the response to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. A previous version of the conclusions mentioned “a humanitarian truce”in the singular, before the plural, “humanitarian truces”, be retained. Germany, in particular, feared that the use of the singular would call into question Israel’s right to defend itself.
It took more than five hours of discussions for heads of state and government to arrive at this position. “That’s ten minutes of speaking per leader. Ultimately, on such a sensitive subject, it’s not so much”tempers a source.
A peace conference, but without a date
The Twenty-Seven also called for the organization of an international peace conference. The European Council considers that through it, the “political process based on the two-state solution” could be revived. But when should you organize it? And or ? The President of the European Council Charles Michel kicked in: “In the coming weeks or months”, “in the EU or elsewhere”…
On the European Parliament side, 76 MEPs (including around ten French) sent a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel and the head of diplomacy Josep Borrell, in which they asked them, as well as the Twenty-seven, to clearly call for a ceasefire ” immediate “, the lifting of the total siege and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza. So far, they have not been followed.
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