Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said on Sunday that the situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is a major obstacle to achieving a sustainable solution that establishes peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Borrell, who spoke at the end of the Munich Security Conference, said the West Bank “is the real obstacle to the two-state solution”. He warned that the West Bank “is witnessing a boiling point” and that “we may be on the verge of an even bigger explosion”.
Borrell said that the EU should “support the Arab initiative” that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
His comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a plan for international recognition of a Palestinian state, following reports on such an initiative by the Washington Post.
Borrell affirmed that “without a clear prospect for the Palestinian people, there will not be peace in the Middle East, and the security of Israel will not be ensured just by military means”. He asked if there is a political space for Europe to support a two-state solution.
“I think there is, but for that, we need to be more united,” he said, adding, “If we want to play a geopolitical role in this issue, we have to be more united, as we have been in the case of Ukraine, where our unity has been remarkable. But here I see that there is a dispersion of approaches, and many member states want to play their own game.”
