Brussels, 10/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On a visit to the Middle East from 7 to 9 November, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini called for peace talks to resume immediately. “We are calling on all parties, now, not in three months, not in six months or a year, but now, to resume a political process which could lead to a two-state solution”, she stressed. The High Representative added that “we cannot just sit back and wait another 40 years, we need action now”. She said that with sufficient political goodwill and strong leadership, the conflict could be resolved. “We know all of that”, she said.
Mogherini stressed that the EU wants to do more. “I firmly believe that the EU has a potential political role to play, which is probably greater and more important than in the past”, she explained. She went on to state that the Union was ready and willing to work not just on the resumption of talks, but to ensure that these lead to a two-state solution. Mogherini said that the EU had always encouraged direct talks and not unilateral measures on either side.
She went on to stress the importance of a regional approach, explaining that without a regional framework, the security of Israel would never be guaranteed.
She said that if nothing is built upon the ceasefire agreement of 26 August, if there are not stages 2 and 3, “in other words the reconstruction (of Gaza), the end of the blockade and, ultimately, the creation of a Palestinian state”, there would always be flare-ups of violence.
Federica Mogherini supports the creation of a Palestinian state
The High Representative argued in favour of the creation of a Palestinian state. “We need a Palestinian state, this is the ultimate objective, and this is the position of the whole of the EU”, she explained, adding that she was discussing this with the European foreign ministers. “Jerusalem can and must be the capital of both states”, she went on to explain.
In Gaza, Mogherini argued the need to work on reconstruction more effectively and more quickly than is currently the case. “The world could not bear another war”, Mogherini warned, as the conflict this summer was the third in six years. (CG)