EU needs to keep up diplomatic ‘dialogue with Israel’: Dutch FM
The European Union needs to continue its diplomatic dialogue with Israel amid tensions in the Middle East, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp has said, disagreeing with the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who proposed last week the bloc pause its dialogue with the country.
Borrell’s proposal included the bloc suspending its political dialogue with Israel, citing possible human rights violations in the war in Gaza, and saying the EU has to “put pressure on the Israeli government”.
Dialogue has led nowhere, it's time for sanctions.
EU’s top diplomat has ‘no more words’ on Mideast suffering
The European Union’s outgoing top diplomat, Josep Borrell, says he has “no more words” to describe the situation in the Middle East before chairing his last planned meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers.
“I exhausted the words to explain what’s happening in the Middle East,” Borrell told reporters, barely concealing his frustration at the EU’s failure to weigh in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during his five-year mandate.
“There is no more words,” he said. “It’s about 44,000 people killed in Gaza. The whole area is being destroyed, and 70 percent of the people being killed are women or children.”
“The most frequent ages of casualties are children below nine years old,” the 77-year-old foreign policy chief said.
Turkey dismisses reports it now hosts Hamas’s political office
A Turkish diplomatic source dismissed to Reuters news service reports that Hamas had moved its political office to Turkey from Qatar, adding that members of the Palestinian militant group only occasionally visited the country.
“Hamas Political Bureau members visit Turkey from time to time. Claims that indicate the Hamas Political Bureau has moved to Turkey do not reflect the truth,” the diplomatic source said.
Turkey has fiercely criticised Israel over its offensives in Gaza and in Lebanon, with some Hamas political officials regularly visiting Turkey.
Doha said last week it had told Hamas and Israel it would stall efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until they show willingness and seriousness. It also said that media reports that it had told Hamas to leave the country were not accurate.
