BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Delegations from European Union member states and Middle Eastern and north African countries are meeting Monday in Barcelona, Spain, to discuss the crisis in Gaza, where a fragile pause in fighting is set to expire.
Forty-two delegations gathered at the event hosted by the Union for the Mediterranean, with many represented by their foreign ministers. The meeting is chaired by the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.
Israel is not attending the meeting, which in past years has largely become a forum for cooperation between the EU and the Arab world. Monday’s gathering was supposed to focus on the role of the union 15 years after its founding, but it has taken on new significance since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing war in the Gaza Strip.
Borrell said he “regretted” the absence of Israel. He repeated his condemnation of the Hamas attack, while calling on Israel to permanently end its assault, which he said has claimed the lives of over 5,000 children.
“One horror cannot justify another horror,” Borrell said. “Peace between Israel and Palestine has become a strategic imperative for the entire Euro-Mediterranean community and beyond.”
Jordan’s Safadi, who told The Associated Press on the eve of the event that he hopes the talks will help “bridge a gap” between Arab and European countries, urged the officials attending the meeting to back a two-state solution that would recognize a Palestinian state.
“My friends, Europe has a crucial role to play,” Safadi said. “The two-state solution cannot remain a talking point.”
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, was invited to the event. Israel had been close to normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia before the Hamas attack.
“Continued escalation will produce no severe pain for any party,” Prince Faisal said. “The only sure result is more destruction, radicalization and further conflict at the expense of Palestinian lives, as well as regional security, including that of Israel. Since this crisis erupted, we have been clear on condemning all the targeting of civilians in any form. On both sides.”
Borrell said he wants the focus of the gathering to be on how to manage the humanitarian crisis in Gaza once hostilities finally stop. The EU would want the United Nations to take a leading role in establishing how best to fill any security vacuum should Israeli forces defeat Hamas, according to a senior EU official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Borrell mentioned in his opening remarks that there were Arab partners who “don’t want to talk about the day after in Gaza without having a clear and credible political prospect. That is why we should agree today to work together to build such a political horizon.”
A small pro-Palestinian group rallied before the gathering at the art nouveau building that once housed Barcelona’s Sant Pau Hospital.
The pause in hostilities between Israel and Hamas continued Sunday with a third day of releases of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. It was scheduled for four days and neither side has made fully clear what comes after Monday.
Spain is one of the EU countries that has called for Israel to cease its assault, while also condemning the Hamas attack. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the time has come for the international community and the EU to recognize a Palestinian state during a trip with his Belgian counterpart to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Egypt last week. That prompted Israel to summon the Belgian and Spanish ambassadors.
The Union for the Mediterranean is an intergovernmental organization formed by the 27 members of the EU and 16 from the southern and eastern Mediterranean including Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
The EU is the world’s biggest provider of assistance to the Palestinians. Almost 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) has been earmarked for 2021-2024.
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This story has been corrected to show that Israel summoned the ambassadors of Spain and Belgium, not that it recalled its ambassadors to those countries.