Brussels, June 11: EU foreign ministers to call Monday for Israel to end its blockade of the Palestinian Gaza Strip, proposing a “new mechanism” to overcome Israeli fears of military aid getting in.
“The situation in Gaza remains a source of grave concern,” says a draft text prepared for a meeting of the 27 foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, which expresses regret for the loss of life when Israeli commandos boarded a Gaza aid flotilla on May 31 and killed nine Turkish activists.
The ministers are set to call for a “credible, impartial and independent investigation into these events.”
Israel’s blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza is “unacceptable and counterproductive, including from the point or view of Israel’s security,” the draft text stresses, calling for “an unfettered flow” of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and people in line with UN resolutions.
However the ministers will take into account the security concerns of Israel, which fears that arms and other military materials could be smuggled in with legitimate aid.
So the EU will call for the opening of borders under a “new mechanism” with a list of prohibited goods and “strict control over the destination of imported and exported merchandise.”
An EU diplomat said the EU is keen to help end the blockade, with the possibility of financial aid, manning a crossing or monitoring others controlling a border crossing.
In order to guarantee security “we propose that inspections, supported and funded by the EU, should be put in place (at border crossings) in conditions acceptable to all, in order to ensure that consignments bound for Gaza contain neither weapons nor explosives,” the French, Spanish and Italian foreign ministers said in joint comments published in the European press Friday.
The EU ministers will underline a long-standing opinion that “a two-state solution is the only long-term and sustainable solution” to the Middle East conflict.”
—Agencies