Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, made a controversial statement yesterday, asserting that Israel funded the Hamas movement in an effort to weaken the Palestinian Authority.
During a speech at the University of Valladolid in Spain, Borrell accused Israel of “creating Hamas” and confirmed that “yes, Hamas was funded by the Israeli government in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority led by the Fatah movement.” He added that a two-state solution must be imposed from the outside for peace in the region. This statement came in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s outright rejection of the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Borrell emphasized that “the only solution is the existence of two states (Palestinian and Israeli) sharing the territories they have been fighting over for 100 years,” noting that “everyone says the solution is in the existence of two states, except the Israeli government.” Meanwhile, Borrell stressed the need for the European Union to be united in facing the conflict in the Middle East, as has already been done with Ukraine.
The European Union is deeply divided on how to handle the “Gaza War,” which resulted in more than 24,000 Palestinian casualties. So far, European efforts have been limited to calling for humanitarian truces to allow aid into the increasingly devastated sector. According to observers, there is no European consensus on calling for a complete ceasefire, despite more voices joining this effort. Countries like Germany believe that such an immediate call may conflict with Israel’s right to self-defense.
Borrell criticized these positions, admitting that the international community “has abandoned its duties,” only preaching about the two-state solution but doing “little to make it a reality.” He reported that “the number of settlements in the West Bank today is four times what it was 30 years ago, with about 700,000 settlers, and the international community considers them illegal, but has done nothing about them.”
Borrell added, “We will not get out of the tragedy we are currently living without a very strong commitment from the international community. If we do not intervene strongly, the spiral of hatred and violence will continue from generation to generation. We will witness funeral after funeral when the seeds of hatred sown today in Gaza flourish.” Borrell’s statements come just hours before a meeting of the EU foreign ministers, chaired by Borrell, in Brussels to analyze the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East.
In addition, a senior EU official said that the EU approved a set of sanctions against Hamas yesterday, targeting 6 people involved in funding the movement. According to Reuters, the unnamed European official stated that “what we are doing now.. which was done today, and I believe will be announced in the coming hours.. is that we have established a sanction regime specifically for ‘Hamas.’ Six people are listed.” The official continued, stating that all six individuals are from Arab or African countries and are all involved in financing Hamas.
