EU members were a focus of Israeli and Palestinian lobbying this quarter, particularly regarding the issue of recognition of Palestinian statehood at the UN in 9/2011. Israel lobbied the EU hard to block the British-French-German initiative to put forward a Quartet initiative to relaunch the peace process, to withhold EU support for Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, and to oppose Palestinian efforts to achieve recognition of a Palestinian state. The Palestinians, meanwhile, lobbied for the opposite. Most of the contacts were bilateral, between Israel and the PA and individual EU states.
To this end, Israeli PM Netanyahu traveled to London (5/4) and Paris (5/9) as part of what he planned to be a series of meetings with EU leaders over the coming weeks. British PM David Cameron, according to his spokesman, told Netanyahu that “Britain’s clear and absolute preference is for a negotiation to take place between Israel and the Palestinians which leads to a two state solution which everyone endorses,” but that if Israel did not resume serious negotiations toward a 2-state solution, “Britain is not ruling anything out.” French pres. Nicholas Sarkozy did not publicly take a position on the issues but offered to host a round of Israeli-Palestinian talks in Paris in 6/2011 to discuss reviving negotiations. No preparations for a meeting were reported by the close of the quarter.
PA Pres. Abbas met (5/5) with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin to press for endorsing Palestinian statehood at the UN in 9/2011, but Merkel stressed that “unilateral actions” were unhelpful and urged an immediate return to negotiations based on the Quartet principles. Meanwhile, French pres. Nicholas Sarkozy told Abbas (5/5) that France would likely support the statehood effort if the peace process remained stalemated through the summer.
Of note: According to anonymous Israeli officials, Netanyahu phoned German chancellor Merkel on 2/21 to express disappointment with Germany’s 2/18 vote in favor of the UNSC res. on settlements (see “Paving the Way for UN Recognition” above). Merkel reportedly (HA 2/25) was furious, telling Netanyahu: “How dare you. . . . You are the one who disappointed us. You haven’t made a single step to advance peace.”
Also of note: Marc Otte, EU special rep. for the Middle East peace process since 2003, ended his term on 3/1. EU external affairs chief Catherine Ashton did not appoint a replacement immediately, citing lack of movement on the peace process. An anonymous EU official said (Agence France-Presse 3/4) that the matter would be discussed in fall 2011 after a detailed review of the effectiveness of the EU’s full network of special envoys and reps. Another EU official, also speaking anonymously, said Ashton placed such high importance on the peace process that she intended to assume the role herself.