On Tuesday afternoon, the EU foreign ministers joined forces for an extraordinary video conference to discuss the escalation in the Middle East.

One wants to discuss, said Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas before the meeting, “how we as the European Union can contribute to a quick end to the violence”.

He condemned the Hamas rocket attacks "strongly".

Israel “of course has the right to defend itself against it”.

The SPD politician announced that Germany would provide forty million euros to supply the civilian population in Gaza.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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    In general, however, expectations of the Conference of Foreign Ministers were low - the differences between the states in assessing the conflict are too great.

    It was only at the weekend that a joint declaration by all EU states at UN level failed due to Hungarian resistance. 

    "Hamas has deliberately escalated"

    Maas blamed Hamas for the current situation: "With its rocket terror, Hamas has deliberately escalated a situation that had already been extremely tense and with terrible consequences for Israelis and also for its own civilian population in Gaza." The top priority is now to silence the guns.

    That is why he spoke to his colleagues in Egypt and Qatar, "who have direct contacts with Hamas".

    Maas also referred to the Middle East Quartet. The new EU special envoy for the Middle East peace process, Sven Koopmans, who represents the EU in the body with the United States, Russia and the United Nations, should further expand his mediation efforts. The Dutch diplomat and former member of the ruling party VVD took up this post at the beginning of the month. The Middle East quartet, founded in 2002, had only recently been revived after being eclipsed under US President Donald Trump and not issuing any statements since September 2018.

    However, it is difficult for the European Union to speak with one voice in the Middle East conflict. Before the video conference, Maas cautiously spoke of “a comparison of our position”. A joint statement had not been prepared for this. The EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell recently only made statements in his own name. The most recent dissent was evident on Sunday when Hungary blocked a joint statement by the EU states at the United Nations. As a result, the EU ambassador could only speak “on behalf of the European Union” - a diplomatic finesse.

    After all, 26 states were ready to demand an "immediate end to hostilities".

    On the one hand, they condemned the rocket attacks by Hamas and recognized "Israel's legitimate right to defend itself against any attack".

    On the other hand, they warned "that Israel's military intervention must be proportionate and in accordance with international law".

    The mere mention of this reference was to be understood as a distancing.

    Northern Europeans critical of Israel

    The statement also contained a strong condemnation: "The EU reiterates its strong opposition to Israel's settlement policy," it said, with particular reference to the barrier that does not follow the 1967 armistice line, the destruction of Palestinian houses and the displacement of Palestinians. when courts award their houses to Israelis. These passages went too far for Budapest. The Hungarian government takes the side of the Israeli government in this conflict.

    It wasn't the first time. Bulgaria, Romania and the Czech Republic have already thought out loud about moving their embassies in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, following the example of Donald Trump. On the other side is a group of states that are critical of Israel, led by Luxembourg, Belgium, Ireland and Sweden. A year ago these states threatened to recognize Palestine as a state if Israel annexed large parts of the West Bank. Prime Minister Netanyahu threatened this in the election campaign. But things turned out very differently: Israel surprisingly made peace with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

    Germany traditionally takes a mediating position. For one thing, it stands firmly on Israel's side when the country is attacked. Chancellor Angela Merkel put it in 2008 that Israel's security is "part of Germany's raison d'etat". On the other hand, Germany insists on compliance with international law and rejects the Israeli settlement policy. France is traditionally closer to the Palestinians than Berlin. But diplomats and observers noticed that Macron made an "unshakable" commitment to the security of Israel in the current conflict, without mentioning the shared status of Jerusalem.