Eight EU states warn Trump peace plan will fail unless based on 1967 lines
“Any peace plan that fails to recognize these internationally agreed parameters would risk being condemned to failure,” the said.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFUpdated: DECEMBER 19, 2018 10:56U.S. President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini before their meeting at the European Union headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, May 25, 2017.(photo credit: REUTERS)Any Israeli-Palestinian peace plan not based on the pre-1967 lines will fail, eight European Union member states warned US President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening.“We, the European Union members of the Council, would like to reiterate once more and emphasize the EU’s strong continued commitment to the internationally agreed parameters for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on international law, relevant UN resolutions and previous agreements,” ambassadors from the eight nations said in a joint statement they read to the media.“Any peace plan that fails to recognize these internationally agreed parameters would risk being condemned to failure,” they said.The ambassadors spoke out at UN headquarters in New York just after a UN Security Council meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told the Security Council that the international community must support the plan.“This plan will be different from all previous ones. The critical question is whether the response will be any different,” Haley said.She told the European Union and Arab nations, that its success was dependent in part on their support.“The world will be watching. More importantly, the Palestinians and the Israelis will be watching. Their response will be effected by your response,” Haley said.But EU member states who spoke at the UNSC — the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden — told the US that its plan must confirm with existing understandings regarding a two-state resolution to the conflict.After the meeting they read out a statement, endorsed by another three EU member states, including Germany and Belgium.
“The EU is truly convinced that the achievements of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as the capital of both states .. is the only viable and realistic way to end the conflict and to achieve just and lasting peace.”For any plan to succeed it must meet Israeli and Palestinian security needs, the European nations said.It must also support “Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty, end the occupation and resolve all final status issues, in accordance with UNSC Resolution 2334 and previous agreements,” the ambassadors added.The EU will continue to to work towards that end with both parties and its regional and international partners.“There is a pressing need for a political horizon to be restored,” the eight European states said.“This is why the EU and its members states in past months have been so vocal in reconfirming their united consolidated position in support for the two state solution, with Jerusalem as the future capital of both states,” the ambassadors said.Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Michael Oren responded to EU countries' refusal."When eight EU countries say the American peace plan is doomed to failure if it does not meet their criteria, they mean that they will cause it to fail if the plan does not adopt the Palestinian position."Then they wonder why they are irrelevant to the negotiation process," Oren added, "and why Israel cannot rely on them."
