The EU has long been a staunch supporter of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: a position that Hugh Lovatt, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, expects to be maintained for the foreseeable future.
Josep Borel said: "The EU is unwavering in its support for not just two states but for [mid-1990s peace agreements] the Oslo Accords and the peace process,"
With regard to the latest flare-up, he added: "It's difficult to come up with a unified European Union-wide position - that has been the case for years - but the statement put out in Borrell's name, I think, was one of the better ones put out internationally."
Nonetheless, Lovatt does not expect the EU to take an active role in mediation between Israel and the Palestinian Territories in the coming days or weeks, in keeping with its relatively restrained position in the past and during the war of 2014.
"The EU has limited added value when it comes to escalation and de-escalation in Gaza," he said. "This is to an extent of the EU's own making because it refuses to have contact with Hamas.
"Those that play a mediating role are those that have contact: Egypt, Qatar and the UN
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Can the EU help defuse tensions as Israeli-Palestinian violence escalates? | Euronews
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