The Israeli government has rejected various requests by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs (EU), Josep Borrell, to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories, according to what the Israeli daily Haaretz published today. The newspaper assures that the Israeli Foreign Ministry considers that “there is no reason to reward him for his conduct” and that this decision is due to comments in which the head of European diplomacy compared the activities of the Israeli army with the organization Palestinian Hamas, something he denies.
According to Haaretz, Borrell has expressed interest in visiting Israel and Palestine of late, but Israel has signaled that it will not cooperate with the move. The ministry’s opposition to his visit would not prevent Borrell’s arrival in Israel, but this would imply that he would come to the country as a tourist and that he would not hold working meetings with Israeli representatives.
The tension between the Israeli government and Brussels has been increasing due to what Israel considers an “unbalanced” position regarding the conflict with the Palestinians. This Tuesday, Borrell affirmed that the European Parliament is “free” to debate everything it considers “important” in a debate in the European Parliament entitled “Deterioration of democracy in Israel and the consequences in the occupied territories.”
Borrell informed the MEPs that he is in contact with both the Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers and that he spoke with the latter, Eli Cohen, with whom he said he had spoken that same morning.
In the conversation, the minister considered the EU’s positions towards Israel unbalanced and called for measures to be taken that express Europeans’ understanding of “the complex security situation in which Israel finds itself.”
“I was worried and wondered why the European Parliament interferes in the internal affairs of Israel, once again, blaming me,” he commented, also recalling that the EU’s Foreign Policy is in the hands of its member states.
Borrell made it clear that he tried to explain to Cohen, “in a very friendly way,” that it is “normal for parliamentarians to be concerned about the escalating spiral of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories,” and that there is a “need for all parties de-escalate the situation”.
Cohen issued a statement Tuesday saying he had spoken with Borrell to challenge a number of community positions on the conflict with the Palestinians that he considered unbalanced and framed to contribute to more violence.
Last week, Borrell issued a statement on behalf of the Twenty-seven in which he called on the leaders of Israel and Palestine to de-escalate in the face of increased violence in recent days. “The European Union and its Member States are deeply concerned about the increase in violence and extremism in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, which is causing appalling numbers of Israeli and Palestinian casualties, including children,” the head of community diplomacy.
Borrell stressed on Tuesday that “what is clear is that the situation is worsening from the point of view of violence and conflict between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, that we must continue working to give security to Israel, freedom to the Palestinians and peace and stability to the entire region.
“Let it be clear that contributing to trying to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine is a priority for us,” he added, adding that “for this reason, I must reject the statements by members of the Government of Israel who invited us not to worry about this problem, because it was not our problem.
The Israeli government’s protest comes as the conflict is experiencing a new peak of violence, with more than 80 Palestinians dead in the occupied West Bank so far this year in violent incidents with Israel – the deadliest start to the year in the area since 2000. while 14 people have died on the Israeli side, victims of Palestinian attacks that have also increased.
The Israeli criticisms have also occurred after statements by European leaders expressing their concern about the controversial judicial reform promoted by the Government headed by the right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu, which seeks to grant more power to the Executive to the detriment of the Judiciary.
