Just before leaving office next month, Josep Borrell proposed to the European Union to suspend the political dialogue established between the 27 and Israel.
The head of European diplomacy has regularly appeared to be very critical of the military actions of the Israeli army in Gaza and the blocking of humanitarian aid by Israel to the Palestinian enclave.
It’s necessary “put an end to the tragic situation” in the Middle East. Josep Borell reiterated this call two weeks ago, during the Union for the Mediterranean Regional Forum. For the representative of European diplomacy, the reality in the Gaza Strip constitutes “the most serious and acute humanitarian crisis since the Second World War”.
In September, he called on the international community to “put pressure on both parties”Hamas and Israel, to reach a ceasefire agreement.
But like these previous calls, his proposal to suspend the political dialogue established between the 27 and Israel has almost no chance of succeeding, since decisions on foreign policy require the unanimity of the 27. However, a series of countries , including Germany and Italy, have already expressed their opposition.
Forced displacements
The European Union has also been trying, since May, to organize a meeting of the association council between Israel and the EU, to examine in particular the human rights situation in Gaza, but this meeting has still not did not take place due to lack of agreement on the agenda.
In the meantime, it is the United Nations, or NGOs, which continue to provide reports on this situation. Like Human Rights Watch, which denounced this Thursday (11/14) crimes against humanity and war crimes by the Israeli army, through the forced displacement of the population during calls to evacuate large areas of the territory.
The Israeli army explains that this is to protect civilians during its operations against the Hamas terrorist organization.
But for Human Rights Watch, “Israel cannot simply rely on the presence of armed groups to justify the displacement of civilians.”
Uninhabitable areas
Today, according to the United Nations, 80% of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip are now displaced.
However, according to Human Rights Watch, on the one hand, “there is no compelling military reason that could plausibly justify Israel’s mass displacement of almost the entire population of Gaza”.
Then, the destruction of homes and vital infrastructure that follows the evacuations makes “systematically uninhabitable in large parts of Gaza”not allowing Gazans to return home.
“The Israeli army intentionally demolished or seriously damaged civilian infrastructure, including by carrying out controlled demolitions of buildings”writes the NGO, which thus considers that the “Israel’s actions also appear to fit the definition of ethnic cleansing.”
