‘Israel and the Palestinians are drifting further apart every day,’ says EU peace envoy

He has flown a lot since October 7, when the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, which has been stagnant for years, was suddenly catapulted back to the top of the international agenda by Hamas’ bloody attack on southern Israel and Israel’s harsh response. Sven Koopmans, EU special representative for the peace process in the Middle East, has been commuting in recent weeks – often in the wake of EU foreign coordinator Josep Borrell – between Israel, various Arab countries, New York and Brussels. He is now in The Hague for consultations.

How has your work changed since October 7?

“I have been doing this work for 2.5 years now and until recently it was often difficult to get attention for the peace process. ‘That conflict continues to simmer’ was often said. But the tragedy of October 7 and the enormous numbers of deaths in the Gaza Strip have suddenly put it back in the center of international attention and the entire political landscape has changed. This also means that my work has become even more sensitive than it already was, but at the same time it offers opportunities to approach the matter in a fundamentally different way.”

Does that mean that you see opportunities to revive the much-mentioned two-state solution?

“Of course. However, the circumstances are not there yet. Israel and the Palestinians are drifting further apart every day. There is still too much suffering, the need for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip is still too great. Now the main question is: how can we ensure that the violence stops as quickly as possible? The peace process is something for the longer term, but in any case there is a much greater sense of urgency than before October 7.”

How can Europe, which also shows division in this conflict, contribute to a solution?

“The EU consists of 27 sovereign states and it is true that at the UN they often vote very differently on resolutions surrounding the Gaza war. Yet there is a strong common basis for the two-state solution, for the application of international law, the recognition of Israel’s right of self-defense, the condemnation of Hamas as a terrorist organization and for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The scale of the catastrophe is also such that everyone sees that the fighting must end as quickly as possible.”

Doesn’t this Israeli government nevertheless tend to ignore Europe? Isn’t the US much more important to them politically and militarily?

“I recognize that Israel does not implement everything we want, but you should not underestimate the importance of the EU. Europe is Israel’s largest trading partner and we are the largest donor to the Palestinians. The question is not: who has the most influence on Israel? That is of course the US. But the question is: do we have influence and how can we use it? We certainly have positions and resources to do something, although that will not immediately radically change the situation.”

You argue for a fundamentally different approach to the peace process in the long term. How should that be?

“The traditional process was: the US invites the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to Washington or Camp David, they establish a roadmap which should result in a two-state solution. But that will not happen anytime soon in practice because people no longer find such a roadmap credible. I propose to approach it in a different way. Let’s turn it around and assume that peace is possible between Israel and the Palestinians, what can we do to help with that? What does such a framework of real peace look like? Then we need to look at how we can help Israel integrate politically and economically into the region in areas such as energy, water, climate and tourism. Not only the US will be able to help with this, but Saudi Arabia and the EU, for example, should also be involved.”

Such a process of regional integration had already been initiated through the Abraham Accords with several Arab countries, but it was dealt a serious blow by the Gaza war.

“That is true and it is also true that after such a war you cannot simply return to business as usual. But you also see that those states that established ties with Israel despite their fierce criticism of Israel’s warfare in the Gaza Strip have not severed their diplomatic ties with Israel. People realize that there is actually no alternative to such integration. But it must be linked to a serious peace process with the Palestinians.”

Is that the lesson of this war?

“It is indeed certain that the Palestinians can no longer be ignored.”

Then Koopmans apologizes. He has to catch the train to Brussels.

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