by Alexandra Brzozowski
As fighting continues in Gaza, EU foreign ministers on Monday (11 December) discussed possible next steps in response to the Israel-Hamas war, including a crackdown on Hamas’ finances and travel bans for Israeli settlers responsible for violence in the West Bank.
The push comes as the Middle East crisis has exposed deep-running divisions on the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict among EU member states between mostly more pro-Palestinian members such as Ireland and Spain, and staunch backers of Israel, including Germany and Austria.
A paper, drawn up by the EU’s diplomatic service (EEAS) and sent to member states last week, outlines a broad range of possible next steps and is an attempt to “put all avenues on one piece of paper” for member states to discuss, people with knowledge of the matter told Euractiv.
“We’re looking for a steer from member states,” they said.
“In general, some of the language [in the paper] on International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Court (ICC) will be too much for some,” an EU official admitted but said he hoped EU member states could agree on a bottom line for further work.
The EEAS document is largely based on a proposal the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell has sketched as a draft framework for post-conflict Gaza at an earlier gathering of the bloc’s foreign ministers in November.
Hamas finances, travel bans
Elements for discussion include compliance with international law, possible additional European aid contributions towards stabilising Gaza, a stronger diplomatic push towards a two-state solution and ‘reinvigoration’ of the Palestinian Authority.
While Hamas is already listed by the EU as a terrorist organisation, meaning any funds or assets that it has in the EU should be frozen, the paper suggests the bloc could go a step further by targeting Hamas finances and disinformation.
The EU announced on Friday (8 December), that it had added Mohammed Deif, Commander General of the military wing of Hamas, and his deputy, Marwan Issa, to its list of terrorists under sanction.
Meanwhile, senior EU officials, such as the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, have also expressed alarm at rising violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The EU noted that violence from settlers in the West Bank has escalated from an already high level, and Israeli army actions are becoming more frequent, with 219 Palestinians killed in that region since 7 October.
According to the latest data from the Hamas-run Health Ministry, the death toll in Palestine since the recent escalation of the conflict has topped 18,000, with over 49,000 injured, mostly women and children.
The paper suggests an EU response could include bans on travel to the bloc for those responsible and other sanctions for violating human rights.
Such measures were before backed by France, who said last month the EU should consider looking into such options, while Belgium said last week it would ban “extremist settlers in the West Bank” from entering the country.
However, EU diplomats are sceptical that achieving the unanimity necessary for EU-wide bans will be possible, especially with countries such as Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary unlikely to agree.
But some suggested a decision last week by the United States, Israel’s biggest backer, to start imposing visa bans on people involved in violence in the West Bank, also considered by the UK, could encourage EU countries to take similar steps.
Another possible EU mission?
While the EU currently has two missions deployed in the region with EUBAM Rafah and EUPOL COPPS, they both had limited scope to act.
According to the paper, EU member states could also consider at a later stage to task the bloc’s diplomatic service to “assess how [those missions] could contribute more to stabilising the occupied Palestinian territories and review their mandates accordingly”.
This could also involve considering how “a possible CSDP mission can potentially be deployed as part of an international security contribution to Gaza after the end of the current hostilities”.
Regional buy-in needed
For the EU to keep the dialogue with both parties, the paper also suggests to “invite the Israeli FM and Palestinian PM/FM separately to future Foreign Affairs Council meetings to maintain the dialogue with both”.
Monday’s discussion comes two weeks after Arab states and Europeans at an EU-Med meeting in November found wide consensus that a two-state solution should be the answer to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Israel had boycotted the meeting.
“We understand that Israel wants to fight Hamas and wishes for it to be gone,” EU’s special envoy for the Middle East Peace Process, Sven Koopmans, told Euractiv after the talks.
“But we also say that the next phase needs to be a phase of peace and stability – not resolving the conflicts is contributing to prolonging the insecurity,” he added.
While the EU’s priority is helping Ukraine fight off Russia’s invasion, the Israel-Hamas war has forced the bloc to divert part of its attention to the Middle East.
But accusations of pro-Israel bias and ‘double standards’ over the war in Gaza have raised fears that such acrimony could undermine the bloc’s standing in the Global South and the EU’s ability to insist on human rights clauses in international agreements.
“The best thing to do is to show that there are no double standards, which is to say that for the EU international law applies everywhere,” Koopmans said.
When it comes to for instance the cutting of water, energy and food for the population in Gaza, this is a dire situation and ’it is just not acceptable,” he added.
*first published in: Euractiv.com
By: N. Peter Kramer
