Tuesday

28th Nov 2023

Israeli president attacks French summit idea

  • Rivlin: "This striving for a permanent agreement 'now' is the chronicle of a predictable failure" (Photo: European Parliament)

Israeli president Reuven Rivlin has poured cold water on France’s plan to host a Middle East peace summit by the end of the year.

He said in a speech at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday (22 June) that the initiative is premature and bound to fail, creating “despair” that could lead to more violence.

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

“The attempt to return to negotiations for negotiations’ sake, not only does not bring us near the long-awaited solution, but rather drags us further away from it. This striving for a permanent agreement 'now', is the chronicle of a predictable failure, which will only push the two peoples deeper into despair”, he said.

He said the project is “fundamentally erroneous” because it assumes that outside “pressure” on Israel and Palestine would make them see eye to eye.

Rivlin said that, as things stand, there is “total lack of trust between the parties on all levels; between the leaderships and the peoples”.

He urged EU states to instead work, with “patience”, on “building trust between the parties, and creating the necessary terms for the success of negotiations in the future.

He said the EU should try to get “moderate” Arab states Egypt and Jordan to play a bigger role in the process. He said it should help to improve living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza and sponsor joint Arab-Israeli projects, for instance, on renewable energy or tourism.

He also said it should help Arabs and Israelis to get to know each other better via educational and cultural initiatives.

The president compared the confidence-building measures to the post-WWII genesis of the EU.

“Cooperation in the fields of electricity, gas and coal started this miracle of a Europe living in peace with itself. Small steps created a great reality”, he said.

Mistrust

Israel currently has a hard-right ruling coalition in power.

Its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has also rejected the French plan. He has overseen a surge in settlement expansion and a crackdown on government-critical Israeli NGOs.

Palestinian leaders have welcomed France’s proposal, with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to address the EU parliament on Thursday.

But individual Palestinians continue to attack Israelis in knife and car-ramming attacks that indicate lack of faith in future prospects.

The EU parliament president, Martin Schulz, said the way Rivlin ended his speech, by wishing Muslims in Europe and in the Middle East a happy Ramadan in the Arabic language, was a “really great moment in the life of the European Parliament”.

He added that, as a German, he felt “shame” at the growing anti-Semitic violence in parts of Europe.

He said the French initiative was a “small step” that “could perhaps help”.

No deadline

Earlier this week, EU foreign ministers in a joint statement “welcomed” the French summit and tasked the EU foreign service with drafting a list of economic “incentives” for Israel and Palestine in the event of a peace deal.

The original French idea was to launch the talks with a two-year deadline after which France and the UN would recognise Palestinian statehood even if there was no deal.

But the deadline and the UN resolution plan have now been dropped, a French diplomat said.

Meanwhile, EU foreign service chief Federica Mogherini is lukewarm on the French initiative.

EU sources said she is more interested in working on the basis of a new blueprint for peace to be published by the Middle East quartet on Thursday.

The quartet - which includes the EU, Russia, the UN and the US - is expected to echo Rivlin in calling for confidence building measures instead of new talks. It is also expected to criticise Israeli settlement expansion and Palestinian violence.

NGOs

Both Rivlin and Schulz on Wednesday paid tribute to Israel’s democratic values.

But for their part, five senior MEPs in a letter addressed to Rivlin on 8 June voiced concern about the “mounting pressure and recent attacks against civil society organisations” in Israel.

They said an upcoming bill that would label foreign-funded NGOs as “foreign agents” and impose new tax and administrative burdens “may damage Israel’s democratic foundation and international standing”.

The five MEPs were the leaders of the centre-left, liberal, green and far-left groups in the EU assembly.

EU 'welcomes' Israeli settler exports

The EU’s envoy to Israel has said that settler exports are “welcomed” in Europe, but the best way to stop boycotts would be to make peace with Palestine.

Opinion

Six EU double standards on Israel

Israeli prime minister Netanyahu often accuses the EU of applying "double standards" to Israel. It's true. But all of them are in Israel's favour rather than the other way round.

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. Member states stall on EU ban on forced-labour products
  2. EU calls for increased fuel supplies into Gaza
  3. People-smuggling profits at historic high, EU concedes
  4. EU bets big on fossil hydrogen and carbon storage
  5. How centre-right conservatives capitulate to the far-right
  6. My experience trying to negotiate with Uber
  7. Key battlegrounds in EU's new media legislation
  8. EU 'shocked' by Israel's war-time settler surge

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  2. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  4. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  5. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  2. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  4. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations
  5. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  6. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us