The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell estimated on Sunday that tensions in the West Bank, where attacks by settlers against Palestinians have increased, constitute “the real obstacle” to a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
“I am surprised because everyone is talking about ending the war in Gaza, but no one has talked much about the West Bank, which is the real obstacle to the two-state solution,” the official said from the podium. of the Munich Security Conference. “The West Bank is in turmoil, the level of violence against the Palestinians has been increasing since October 7, it was already very high before that,” he recalled.
Western countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and France, have imposed sanctions against certain Israeli settlers deemed “extremist”, including the freezing of their assets.
Last year, 26 wild settlements, unrecognized by Israel, appeared in the West Bank, a record, according to the NGO “Peace Now”. Of the 26, around ten were established after the start of the war on October 7.
The attack carried out that day by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas resulted in the deaths of more than 1,160 people, the majority of them Israeli civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
The massacre sparked an ongoing conflict in Gaza, where 28,985 people, again mainly civilians, died under massive Israeli bombardments, according to the Hamas health ministry.
“The question is whether there is a political space where we can consider supporting the two-state solution. I think so, but for that we need to be more united,” continued Mr. Borrell. “We have discussed a lot with the Arabs and we are waiting for a proposal from them that we Europeans could support,” he added.
These words echo those of the Palestinian Prime Minister. “Everyone agrees on two States. We have been talking about two States for 33 years. We must move from the stage of discussion to that of the implementation of two States,” argued Mohammad Chtayyeh on Sunday at Munich.
This article is originally published on lorientlejour.com
