Borrell Urges ‘Pressure’ – EU Ministers to Discuss Pausing Dialogue with Israel

November 18, 2024 News
EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. (Photo: File)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

“After a year of unheeded pleas about the situation in Gaza, we cannot continue with business as usual.”

EU foreign ministers are to discuss pausing the bloc’s political dialogue with Israel, following a proposal by foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, reports say.

“Many people try to stop the war in Gaza … This has not happened yet. I do not see hope for this to happen (soon). That is why we have to put pressure on the Israeli government,” Borrell told reporters ahead of an EU meeting on Monday.

He added “Both sides have to be put under pressure. That is why there are concrete proposals today on the table. A concrete proposal in order to see if what is happening in Gaza is in accordance with international law. This is the most important.”

Borrell met with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Nasser Alkidwa on Sunday night, “to find an off-ramp from the course of destruction towards that of peace,” the EU chief said on X.

“Their joint plan is a ray of hope in dark times. We all have a role & a stake in creating momentum to change the course,” he said.

Call for Import Ban

Last week, Borrell said on X that he has “proposed to EU Member States to ban import of products from illegal settlements and to suspend the political dialog with Israel.”

“After a year of unheeded pleas about the situation in Gaza, we cannot continue with business as usual,” he emphasized.

Borrell said last month that immediate action was required to end “the human tragedy unfolding in Gaza,” joining UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in his call.

“By signing the Geneva Conventions, signatories have a legal responsibility to ensure adherence to international law by all parties involved. It is our duty to protect civilians and human rights, and it is high time to act on it,”  the EU chief stressed.

Ongoing Genocide

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

‘Legal Responsibility’ – EU’s Josep Borrell Urges World Leaders to End Gaza’s ‘Human Tragedy’

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,922 Palestinians have, to date, been killed, and 103,898 wounded.

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

Millions Displaced

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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