NNA – quot;Israel#39;s plan to destroy Islamist Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza is not working and the European Union must pursue efforts to create a quot;two-state solutionquot; despite Israeli opposition,quot;nbsp;EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister had on Sundaynbsp;reaffirmednbsp;a hard line against any Palestinian state as it would pose quot;an existential dangerquot; to Israel. He said Israel would keep insisting on full security control over all territory west of the Jordan River, which would include Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Borrell spoke at the monthly gathering of EU foreign ministers, attended this time by counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan and the Arab League secretary-general. The talks will focus mainly on the consequences of Hamas#39; Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel#39;snbsp;retaliatory offensive in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki were making separate appearances at the meeting, which was also taking stock of thenbsp;war in Ukraine.
Referring to Israel#39;s objective in its devastating three-month-old war in Gaza, Borrell told reporters: quot;To say that destruction of Hamas is the aim is one-sided, because it means that it will be up to Israel to decide when they think (Hamas) has become weak enough. We can#39;t go on working like this.quot;
Borrell said he wanted to press ahead with international efforts to create a process that would lead to a Palestinian state co-existing alongside Israel. The last talks to that end collapsed a decade ago amid mutual mistrust and intransigence.–Reutersnbsp;
nbsp;
nbsp;
===============R.H.
nbsp;