2024-01-20 21:30:00
The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has spoken out in favor of “imposing a second state solution from outside” in the Middle East conflict – and has accused Israel of having “created” and “financed” the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas. “We believe that a two-state solution must be imposed from outside to bring peace,” Borrell said in a speech at the university in the Spanish city of Valladolid on Friday evening. Israel continues to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself has been “boycotting” a two-state solution for 30 years, Borrell continued. “To prevent them, they themselves created Hamas. Hamas was funded by the Israeli government to weaken Fatah’s Palestinian Authority.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused Israel of financing the establishment of Hamas in order to weaken the more moderate Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and thereby prevent a Palestinian state. (archive image)
AFP
“If we do not intervene forcefully, the spiral of hatred and violence will continue to spiral from generation to generation, from funeral to funeral,” said the EU foreign policy chief, who was awarded an honorary doctorate in Valladolid.
The issue of the two-state solution has created tensions between Israel and key allies such as the United States. Netanyahu recently reiterated his rejection of an independent Palestinian state and justified this with Israeli security needs. US President Joe Biden told the Israeli prime minister during a phone call on Friday that he continued to support Palestinian statehood.
In recent years, millions of dollars have flowed from Qatar into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Critics accuse Netanyahu of approving these payments and thereby supporting the financing of Hamas, which the head of government denies.
Hamas founded shortly after the start of the Intifada
Hamas was founded shortly after the start of the first intifada in December 1987. The movement emerged as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and saw itself as a counterpoint to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
It initially appeared as a purely charitable organization and founded schools and other social institutions, which earned it great popularity among the impoverished population of the Gaza Strip and led to its victory in the last parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories in 2006.
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