Borrell insists on the two-state solution in his first contact with the new Israeli foreign minister

BRUSSELS, Jan. 12 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, has insisted this Thursday in his first contact with the new Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, on the need to “restore the political horizon” to advance in the peace process for the conflict Palestinian-Israeli, underlining that the way out of the confrontation lies in a two-State solution.

In his first phone call with the head of Israeli diplomacy after the return to power of Benjamin Netanyahu, this time with a coalition government that includes ultra-Orthodox and far-right parties, the High Representative stressed the need to jointly face “challenges such as the Russian aggression against Ukraine or Iran’s military cooperation with Moscow in the context of the war.

After celebrating the relaunch of relations between the EU and Israel, with the first meeting last October of the Association Council after a decade without being convened, Borrell has placed the accent on the normalization of Israel’s relations with the Arab countries around it. and has indicated that it hopes that this will positively affect the development of the peace process in the Middle East.

In the opinion of the former Spanish minister, the “need to restore a political horizon to resolve the conflict” between Israelis and Palestinians persists and for this reason he has stressed the EU’s support for the two-state solution.

Regarding the current situation in the Palestinian territories, where the highest number of deaths has been recorded since 2007, and after the rise to power of radical figures who threaten to inflame tensions, the head of European diplomacy has asked to “avoid unilateral actions”. and has expressed “great concern” about the high number of victims.

The EU took steps in recent months to resume relations with the Israeli authorities after the coming to power of a more centrist figure such as Yair Lapid, in an attempt to leave behind the ongoing tensions experienced during the Netanyahu era, all with the idea of revive the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians as a backdrop.