2023-11-27 09:26:02
BARCELONA (AP) — Delegations from European Union member states and countries from the Middle East and North Africa met Monday in Barcelona, Spain, to address the crisis in Gaza, where the fragile lull in fighting was approaching its end.
42 delegations were scheduled to participate in the event organized by the Union for the Mediterranean, where many countries were represented by their Foreign Ministers. The summit was chaired by the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, and the Jordanian Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi.
Israel was not attending the meeting, which in recent years has largely become a forum for cooperation between the EU and the Arab world. Monday’s meeting was supposed to focus on the union’s role 15 years following its founding, but the meeting took on a new tone following the October 7 militant attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war in the Gaza Strip. .
Speaking to The Associated Press on the eve of the event, Safadi said he hoped the talks would help “reduce differences” between Arab and European countries to call for the humanitarian pause in Gaza to become a permanent ceasefire.
Saudi Arabian Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud was also invited to the summit.
A small pro-Palestinian group demonstrated at the meeting in the art nouveau building that once housed the Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona.
The pause in hostilities between Israel and Hamas continued on Sunday with a third day of releases of Palestinian hostages and prisoners. A four-day ceasefire was initially agreed upon, with neither side making clear what would happen following Monday.
Spain has been one of the EU members that has asked Israel to stop its offensive, in addition to condemning the Hamas attack. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said last week that the time has come for the international community and the EU to finally recognize a Palestinian state, speaking during a trip with his Belgian counterpart to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Egypt. . That led Israel to withdraw its ambassadors from Spain and Belgium.
The Union for the Mediterranean is an intergovernmental organization made up of the 27 members of the EU and 16 of the southern and eastern Mediterranean, including Israel, Palestine – represented by the Palestinian Authority and identified as Palestine – Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
The EU is the largest provider of aid to the Palestinians. In the budget for the period between 2021 and 2024, almost 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) had been allocated for this assistance.
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