The European Union’s top diplomat says the situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is a “real obstacle” for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding that peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved without a clear prospect for the Palestinian people.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Josep Borrell said the level of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has increased since the Hamas attacks on October 7 and has not been discussed enough.
“Everybody talks about ending the war in Gaza. Yes, we have to end the war in Gaza. But nobody has talked a lot about the West Bank,” he said, stressing that “the West Bank is boiling.”
Borrell added that he believes there is space for Europe to support a two-state solution, but for that, he said, Europe needs to be more united and must have the US “more than on board.”
Key context: Under the Oslo Accords peace agreement of the 1990s, the plan was for Israel to gradually hand over control over more and more of the West Bank, but that has never happened. Israel has full administrative and security control over 60% of the area.
More than 700,000 Jewish settlers now live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land on which the Palestinians, along with the international community, want to establish a future Palestinian state. The settlements are considered illegal under international law and are widely seen as one of the main obstacles to a two-state solution.
While the areas where settlements encroach on Palestinian land have always been prone to violence, settler attacks on Palestinians have spiraled out of control in recent months.
