Virus tops peace plan at EU meet

The EU’s planned denunciation of settlement annexation and US President Donald Trump’s peace plan was taken off of Monday’s agenda in light of more pressing concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

“New set-up for Foreign Affairs Council tomorrow,” EU external affairs spokesman Peter Stano tweeted Sunday evening. “Due to COVID19 only informal videoconference, discussing international implications of the pandemic, also Libya, Syria, Turkey.”

The Middle East peace process was a planned item for Monday’s meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, a forum of all member states’ foreign ministers, but the discussion has been postponed indefinitely due to the current health crisis.

Several ministers asked at last month’s meeting in Brussels that the Trump plan be discussed and that the council produce written conclusions.

“We had an exchange of views about the Middle East peace process,” Josep Borrell, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs, said at the end of the February meeting. “We briefly discussed how best to relaunch a political process that is acceptable to both parties and how best to defend internationally agreed parameters of equal rights and international law.”

The Trump plan allows for a Palestinian state on 70% of the West Bank and Gaza, as well as land Israel would swap, while Israel would apply its sovereignty the other 30% of the West Bank, including all settlements and the Jordan Valley.

The EU initially reacted to the Trump plan right after its release in January, calling for a two-state solution based on past UN resolutions.

Borrell at the time threatened that any Israeli moves toward settlement annexation “would not go unchallenged.”

The EU foreign policy chief clarified that his statement “was a warning saying we cannot accept an annexation that from our understanding” defies international law.

The EU is sensitive to the issue of annexation beyond Israel, due to the message applying Israeli law in the West Bank could send to Russia, which annexed Crimea, or Turkey, which occupies Northern Cyprus. The EU currently has sanctions against Russia due to its annexation of Crimea.

In February, Jerusalem fought a possible EU condemnation of the Trump plan, arguing that Europe would discourage the Palestinians from negotiating with Israel.

Hungary led the opposition to a draft of an EU statement opposing the Trump plan last month, blocking its release. Several countries expressed misgivings about the language used that could antagonize the US or be viewed as threatening Israel.