EU foreign ministers meet with Arab counterparts amid push for Palestinian state

By Agencies and ToI Staff 28 May 2024, 3:12 am

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Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhane, second left, and Norway's Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, second left, chair a meeting for talks on the Middle East in Brussels, May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

EU foreign ministers held talks in Brussels with counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar as part of a diplomatic push for a two-state solution after the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Speaking after Monday’s meeting, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says the two parties will look to see if they can combine their efforts to set up a joint conference on how to implement a two-state solution.

The push in Europe for a Palestinian state gained momentum last week when Ireland, Spain and Norway said they would recognize one starting May 28. But the move underscored divisions within the 27-nation EU, which has struggled to reach a unified position on the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.