2023-10-03 17:19:15
By Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission
Thirty years ago, on September 13, 1993, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin shook hands to seal the “Oslo Accords,” which were supposed to lead to a permanent settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within five years. At the time, I remember feeling the hope of finally seeing an end to the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian tragedy that had already lasted for several decades. In 2023, what remains? There is no peace and no peace process. Hope turned to resentment and despair, and the anniversary went virtually unnoticed.
On the ground, the conflict is intensifying again. This year, more than 200 Palestinians and 35 Israelis have already been killed. Terrorist attacks, carried out both by Palestinian militants against Israelis and by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, are once again reaching a record level. Israel continues to expand settlements in the West Bank: at the time of the Oslo Accords there were 280,000 settlers; today there are more than 700,000. Settler violence, the separation wall, demolitions and other measures are gradually pushing the Palestinian population off their lands in many parts of the West Bank, while the humanitarian catastrophe deepens. continues relentlessly in Gaza, with no end in sight.
Meanwhile, domestic support for the internationally recognized Palestinian leadership has fallen to an all-time low, compounded by a growing lack of funding. In contrast, Israel has become a thriving “start-up nation,” despite an imperfect security environment. The need to change the status quo is therefore not felt as acutely in Tel Aviv as in Ramallah, but the conflict is not going to disappear: the idea that Israel could move forward without making the peace with the Palestinians is a dangerous illusion.
The continued violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and some of the most fundamental principles of international law is eroding confidence in a law-based international order, not only in the region but throughout the world. It is therefore more necessary and urgent than ever that the international community reaffirms its commitment and mobilizes in favor of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
For years, we, the EU and the international community, have been advocating a two-state solution, with the State of Israel and alongside it an independent, democratic, contiguous and sovereign State of Palestine, living in peace and security. security with Jerusalem as the capital of both states. Due to Israel’s policy of fait accompli, this solution may seem less and less viable on the ground. However, what other alternative could allow Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace? No one is able to articulate any other plausible answer.
Establishing diplomatic ties between some Arab states and Israel, vital as it is for regional peace, has so far not brought Israelis and Palestinians any closer to peace. That is why, together with the League of Arab States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, we have decided to join forces to help revitalize the two-state solution.
On September 18, at the United Nations in New York, we jointly launched the “Peace Day Effort.” It was a success with the participation of more than 50 countries and organizations. We intend to “reverse engineer” peace, developing a “peace support package” that will maximize the benefits for the Palestinians and Israelis if they can reach a peace agreement. . This initiative builds on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and the EU’s 2013 “Political, Security and Economic Support Package”, both of which provided such incentives for parties to the conflict if they conclude peace, while also drawing inspiration from the relations established between Israel and certain Arab States.
Our goal is to bring together what each of us could contribute when there is real peace, truly open borders and substantial regional cooperation in the Middle East. What political, economic and security perspectives can we offer? What projects could we launch in the areas of energy, climate, water, development and other areas? This Peace Day effort is not only an Arab-European initiative: all international partners are invited to contribute and, in New York, many have offered their support. On November 13 and 14, we will start working together in Brussels to make this peace support package specific and concrete.
This initiative obviously cannot replace a real peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. And the peace support package alone will not be enough to overcome the many obstacles to peace, but it can serve as an incentive to move in that direction – not only through the benefits it offers, but also by reminding parties to conflict that only a negotiated solution is a viable and acceptable strategic option.
While our Israeli and Palestinian friends are not yet negotiating peace, we have undertaken this journey to help keep the two-state solution alive, hoping that together we can bring its implementation closer. However distant peace in the Middle East may seem today, we will keep trying, echoing Nelson Mandela’s words that “it always seems impossible until it’s done.” For the legitimate rights of the Palestinians, the long-term sustainable security of the Israelis, peace and development in the region, and the credibility of the international order based on law, the world cannot afford to forget the Israeli-Israeli conflict. Palestinian.
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