BY RAMI G. KHOURI, THE DAILY STAR, LEBANON
The European Union’s desire to play a more active role in promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace, as its foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Monday as she set out on her first visit to the region, is one of the few areas where one could imagine some positive movement in this moribund arena.
Seventeen of the 28 EU states voted last year to admit Palestine into the United Nations as a nonmember observer state.
Getting all 28 European states to do this would be a powerful first step in Europe’s playing a dynamic role in promoting Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy for peace and justice.
At the same time, Europe could join forces with Arab powers to prod the Palestinians to play their diplomatic role more effectively in two areas: bridging the internal Fatah-Hamas divide and reconstituting a single, unified Palestinian national leadership under the Palestine Liberation Organization, which represents Palestinians everywhere; and, reviving and clarifying the 2002 Arab Peace Plan that remains the most promising outline for a potential permanent peace agreement that addresses the key demands of both sides.
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Europe, European Union, Palestine