Saturday

2nd Dec 2023

EU statement fails to hide division on Palestine

  • The vote comes 65 years after a UN resolution which called for a Jewish and an Arab state in Palestine (Photo: tomdz)

An EU declaration to be published on the day of a historic UN vote on Palestine does little to hide internal division on the subject.

The statement - a draft of which was seen by EUobserver - repeats the Union's previously agreed ideas on the conflict: that it must end with a two-state solution, that the EU is ready to recognise Palestinian statehood "when appropriate," and that future borders and the ownership of Jerusalem should be based on pre-1967 lines, unless Palestine and Israel agree to change them.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Coming in the context of Palestine's bid to gain UN "observer state" status in the vote on Thursday (29 November), it also contains muted criticism of Palestine.

It says both sides should "refrain from actions that undermine the credibility of the [peace] process." It urges "avoiding of unilateral measures and acts on the ground which undermine confidence" in future Israel-Palestine negotiations and it says the talks must be resumed "without delay or preconditions."

The words echo the US and Israel's point of view on the UN bid.

Israel has said that if the UN backs Palestine, it will make negotiations harder by fixing its borders in a framework outside bilateral talks.

It has also urged EU countries to get Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to promise to restart talks without preconditions.

For its part, Palestine says there is nothing "unilateral" about its UN bid because the UN is a multilateral body. It has also reserved the right not to restart talks unless Israel first stops building new settlements on its land.

EUobserver understands the EU declaration was drafted at a time when Germany was still trying to get the 27 member states to vote as one bloc in a mass abstention.

But its efforts unravelled on Tuesday and Wednesday when first France and then Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Malta and Spain said they will vote Yes. Belgium and the UK indicated they will abstain, while Germany in the end said it will abstain or vote No.

"Germany will not vote for such a resolution," its government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told a press briefing in Berlin on Wednesday.

An EU diplomat told this website the draft declaration was tweaked on Wednesday morning, inserting a line to the effect that "the decision whether or not to recognise Palestine as a non-member [UN] observer state remains the sovereign right of each [EU] member state."

He added: "It's kind of silly. It looks like an attempt to pretend that there is EU unity when there clearly isn't."

Another EU diplomat noted: "It's an attempt to say something that is common to all the European countries and to anticipate the fact that there will be several different positions taken."

A third EU diplomat added: "It would have been better not to have any declaration at all given the situation."

Meanwhile, Palestine needs a simple majority of the 193 UN members to get what it wants. The result is a shoe-in because over 130 UN countries have already recognised its statehood on a bilateral basis.

It chose 29 November as a symbolic date because it marks the 65th anniversary of UN resolution 181, which called for the creation of a "Jewish state" and an "Arab state" in what was then the British mandate in Palestine.

Speaking to EUobserver on the eve of the vote, Israel's EU ambassador, David Walzer, said the UN bid "constitutes a clear violation of existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and there will be consequences to this unilateral move."

He added: "Many European countries recognise the severity of the Palestinian bid and do not support it."

Palestine's EU ambassador, Leila Shahid, said: "There is no reason whatsoever for the Palestinians to keep on negotiating while at the same time Israel is creating conditions on the ground [settlements] that destroy the possibility of a Palestinian state."

Correction: the original story said the EU declaration would be read out in New York. In fact, it was published online ahead of the UN meeting

Russia loses seat on board of chemical weapons watchdog

Russia lost its seat on the board of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for the first time in the organisation's history — while Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania were elected to the executive council.

Opinion

'Loss and Damage' reparations still hang in balance at COP28

There is still work to be done — especially when it comes to guaranteeing the Global North's participation in financing Loss and Damage, and ensuring the Global South has representation and oversight on the World Bank's board.

Latest News

  1. Israel's EU ambassador: 'No clean way to do this operation'
  2. Brussels denies having no 'concern' on Spain's amnesty law
  3. Dubai's COP28 — a view from the ground
  4. Germany moves to criminalise NGO search-and-rescue missions
  5. Israel recalls ambassador to Spain in new diplomatic spat
  6. Migrant return bill 'obstructed' as EU states mull new position
  7. Paris and Berlin key to including rape in gender-violence directive
  8. What are the big money debates at COP28 UN climate summit?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us