Brussels, 23/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 22 October, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stated the leaders needed to explore ways together to stop the violence, saying that the conflict would centre on the holy sites and therefore risked having global level consequences.
In Mogherini's view, it is important “to explore together the means for stopping the violence, calming the situation, showing leadership and restraint, also regarding the rhetoric”. “I underlined the need to do this, not only for the good of the people in the region, on the ground, but also given the regional and global responsibility that the two leaders have, due to the fact that the conflict is focused on the holy places”, she said at the end of several meetings on the Middle East conflict, including a meeting with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This risks inflaming the situation regionally and even potentially globally - whenever a conflict overlaps with the regional dimension, with an identity dimension, that turns very easily into something very dangerous for the international community as such”, she said. “This means that showing leadership and acting with a certain degree of restraint is not only a responsibility the two leaderships have to their own people, but also the regional and international communities”, Mogherini added, who reiterated the status quo of the holy sites.
The message seems to have been heard by Israel. For the first time in several weeks on 23 October, Israel allowed all the faithful Palestinians - without age restriction - to visit the esplanade of mosques in Jerusalem in order to pray.
Mogherini also explained that at the same time as concrete means are sought to defuse the situation, perspectives need to be given on the political process. “It is not phase one and phase two, the two have to go together even more now than before. Without a political horizon, the situation is not going to calm down”, she said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)