Borrell considers the Israeli Foreign Minister’s proposal for an island off Gaza as “irrelevant”

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The EU ministerial meeting on Monday was aimed at discussing the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and possible first steps in this direction. A peaceful resolution to the long-running conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Josep Borrell, the EU foreign minister, who described the meeting as “extraordinary”, said Katz’s interventions during the meeting—in which he suggested an artificial island in the Mediterranean Sea near the coast of the Loch— Was “irrelevant” to the debates.

“I think the minister should have better spent his time worrying about the situation in his own country or the high number of deaths in Gaza,” Borrell told the press after the meeting.

According to Borrell, Katz, the recently appointed Israeli Foreign Minister, showed two videos to his European counterparts during the meeting. first promoted a Rail infrastructure project connecting Gaza With the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank. another showed an offer To create an artificial island in the Mediterranean Sea, On the Gaza coast, which will serve as a commercial hub connecting the Gaza Strip to the rest of the world.

According to Reuters, the infrastructure project dates back to Katz’s time when he was Israel’s transportation minister and was first presented in a 2017 video as “a response to a reality that is bad for Palestinians and good for Israel.” Not there.”

But Katz’s decision to bring up the initiative during discussions focused on possible future peace talks has “surprised” EU ministers, according to a diplomatic source. ** Katz has not suggested that the island could be used to hold Gazans, nor has he done so. He links the initiative to the so-called two-state solution, the diplomatic source said.

But Borel said that in the video it was “Of little, if any, relevance to the issue under discussion.”

The meeting came just a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rReiterated its opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state As part of the so-called two-state solution after the war, which has been ongoing since an October 7 attack against Israel by the Hamas group that controls the Gaza Strip. A two-state solution, which would include the creation of a state for the Palestinians Common objective desired by the EU and Western allies after the war.

Borrell stressed on Monday that only a two-state solution can give Israelis and Palestinians the security guarantees they need. He also said that the EU and the international community generally have Finding and proposing solutions is a “moral obligation.”

there was a meeting after that controversial comments On Friday, in which he claimed that Netanyahu was “Individual Boycott” The two-state solution over the past three decades.

The foreign ministers of the 27 EU member states, who have at times disagreed over their response to the war between Israel and Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the bloc, agreed. They unanimously support a two-state solution, Borrell said.

“All member states have told him (Katz), of course, that they believe that a lasting and sustainable peace solution that guarantees Israel’s security (…) includes Creation of a Palestinian state“Borrell explained.

“It certainly hasn’t changed their minds, but we didn’t expect anything to the contrary,” he said.