EU foreign ministers push Pompeo on Israeli annexation

EU foreign ministers hold video talks with their US counterpart Mike Pompeo as rifts widen over how to handle relations with Israel, China and international organizations.

The meeting kicks off a crunch week for trans-Atlantic ties, with a virtual meeting of NATO defense ministers starting Wednesday already overshadowed by Washington’s controversial plans to slash its troop presence in Germany.

US President Donald Trump’s “America First” approach has seen ties with Europe lurch from crisis to crisis in recent years, but EU officials are determined to keep talking to Washington, even if little progress is apparent.

High on the agenda will be the Middle East peace process, as Brussels seeks to persuade Israel to back down from plans to annex parts of the West Bank.

The new Israeli government led once again by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled it intends to annex West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, as proposed by Trump, with initial steps to begin from July 1.

A senior EU official says Monday’s talks with Pompeo would begin three weeks “devoted to strongly reaching out” to all parties — including the Israeli and US governments — to try to stop the moves.

EU ministers will press their objections to annexations — which they say breach international law — with Pompeo.

“We are reaching out trying to persuade everybody that annexations are not a good idea and will create instability, and the Israeli government should reconsider,” the official says.

Pompeo has urged the Palestinians to embrace Trump’s Middle East peace plan, which promises them an independent but condensed and demilitarized state as well as international investment.

— AFP