UPEACE The Hague chairman joins former EU leaders' call for Israel-Palestine two-state solution
The chairman of UPEACE Centre The Hague, Robert Serry, has issued an open letter together with 24 European politicians and former leaders, expressing concern over the present US policy on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The letter, that was... The signatories recall that Europe has always promoted a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of the 1993 Oslo agreement, in partnership with previous US administrations. They regret however that the present US administration that the present administration in Washington has departed from this long-standing US policy. The European Union should therefore reject any US plan that does not include the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, with Jerusalem as capital of both states, and an agreed and fair solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees. “International law has brought us [the EU] the longest period of peace, prosperity and stability our continent has ever enjoyed”, the letter states. “For decades, we have worked to see our Israeli and Palestinian neighbors enjoy the peace dividends that we Europeans have through our commitment to that order.” UPEACE Centre The Hague’s chairman Robert Serry joined the initiative because of his previous function in Jerusalem as the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process from 2008 to 2015. Alongside mr. Serry, the letter was signed by former foreign ministers, prime ministers and European Commissioners of 19 EU Member States; NATO ex-secretary generals Javier Solana (Spain) and Willy Claes (Belgium); Mary Robinson, who was president of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Germany’s previous vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel; Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian PM from 1999 to 2008 and now head of the Liberal ALDE group in the European Parliament; and Carl Bildt, who headed the Swedish Government in 1991-1994 and helped mediate in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s on behalf of the EU and the UN.
