EU Hosts Palestinian Leader for Talks  04/20 06:22

   More than 60 nations sent representatives to Brussels Monday to discuss with 
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa stability, security and long-term 
peace in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, as global attention largely remains 
focused in the Middle East on the ongoing crises in Iran and Lebanon.

   BRUSSELS (AP) -- More than 60 nations sent representatives to Brussels 
Monday to discuss with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa stability, 
security and long-term peace in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, as global 
attention largely remains focused in the Middle East on the ongoing crises in 
Iran and Lebanon.

   Ongoing attacks in the West Bank and continued devastation in Gaza have 
dimmed the prospect for a two-state solution, said Belgian Foreign Minister 
Maxime Prvot ahead of the meeting Monday. He is co-hosting the meeting with 
the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas.

   "We observe without naivety that the two-state solution is being made more 
difficult by the day," Prvot said. "But Belgium and many European and Arab 
partners continue to believe that this remains the only realistic path to a 
lasting peace, for Israelis, for Palestinians and for the stability of the 
entire region."

   Nikolay Mladenov, the director of the Board of Peace created by United 
States President Donald Trump, and a well-known figure in Brussels, also 
attended the meeting.

   Palestinian PM calls for unity

   Palestinians in the West Bank say that Israel has used the cover of the Iran 
war to tighten its grip over the territory, as settler attacks surge and the 
military imposes additional wartime restrictions on movement, citing security.

   Gaza requires "one state, one government, one law and one goal," Mustafa 
said on Monday in Brussels.

   "Our common objective of achieving one security structure under the 
legitimate authority should guide the effective coordination between the 
International Stabilization Force, the Palestinian Authority, security 
institutions and other international actors. Security must not be fragmented," 
he said.

   He also called for "the gradual and responsible collection of arms from all 
armed groups and also the full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza."

   Europe eager for relevance in Middle East

   The 27-nation European Union is the largest single donor to the Palestinian 
Authority, with its 90-year-old president Mahmoud Abbas ruling from Ramallah 
for two decades. And while the EU has avoided directly joining the Board of 
Peace, preferring the multilateralism of the United Nations and global legal 
norms, the bloc is eager to not be sidelined in diplomacy in a volatile region 
just across the Mediterranean.

   Outrage in Europe over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza drove many EU 
leaders to condemn Israel's war conduct and to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu's government. With the recent election defeat of long-serving 
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, a close ally of Netanyahu, there might 
now be enough political support within the bloc for stronger actions like 
targeted sanctions on Israeli settlers or even the suspension of some ties to 
Israel.

   Hungarian election winner Pter Magyar said during his first news conference 
on April 13 that he would seek "pragmatic relations" with Israel but also 
rejoin the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant for 
Netanyahu. Orbn had defied that warrant while hosting Netanyahu in Budapest in 
2025 and then started the process of Hungary leaving the world's only court for 
war crimes and genocide.

   Magyar said that he might not continue Orbn's policy of vetoing actions on 
Israel -- a stumbling block that EU leaders critical of Israel have failed to 
overcome over the past three years of brutal conflict in the Middle East.

   Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Snchez wants the EU to tear up its 
long-standing Association Agreement with Israel.

   In force since 2000, that agreement sets out the legal and institutional 
framework within which the bloc and Israel conduct trade and cooperation. The 
EU had found indications Israel had violated that agreement in its military 
campaign in Gaza.

   "We have nothing against the people of Israel; quite the contrary," Snchez 
said in a post on X on Sunday. "But a Government that violates international 
law and, therefore, the principles and values of the EU cannot be our partner."

   Spain will table a formal proposal at an EU foreign ministers' meeting on 
Tuesday to end the agreement with Israel, he said.

   Spain, Ireland, and the Netherlands have voiced deep criticism of Israel's 
military campaigns in the Middle East but have failed to garner enough support 
to spur joint EU action.