The EU's foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas on Monday said she would consider the findings of an internal review that found that Israel is in breach of its human rights obligations in Gaza.
"Our first goal is to change the situation on the ground and help the humanitarian aid to get in and help the people," Ms Kallas said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. "If the situation does not improve, we can discuss further measures and come back to this in July."
EU-Israel relations are rooted in respect for human rights on both sides, and a breach may lead to a proposal to suspend relations in part or in whole. The EU's is Israel's biggest trading partner, and a suspension of trade relations would like hurt the Israeli economy.
Introducing a ban on goods imported from the occupied Palestinian territories was an option discussed by ministers, according to Ms Kallas. "Today was the beginning of the debate, and not the end," she said.
Most EU countries are against a full suspension of relations with Israel, though some calls in that direction have been made by Spain and Ireland.
“Today is just the day to acknowledge what we all knew many months ago. There are violations of human rights,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said. “If the association agreement is based on human rights, it’s the most normal thing that we suspend immediately, today, this association agreement.”
He also called for an embargo on EU countries selling weapons to Israel and for the widening of individual sanctions on anyone undermining the proposed two-state solution. Spain has already cancelled arms deals with Israel.
Yet the suspension of ties with Israel would require a unanimous decision, which would probably be impossible to obtain given that countries such as Austria, Germany and Hungary tend to back Israel.
According to the review by the EU’s diplomatic corps, the European External Action Service (EEAS), “there are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement”.
The report pointed to Israel's blockade of aid in Gaza, the high number of casualties and attacks on medical facilities. In recent weeks, hundreds have been killed near aid distribution sites run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The report's sources include the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Court of Justice. The death toll in Gaza is close to 56,000 after 20 months of Israeli military action.
Aim to 'change Israeli behaviour'
Those who reject fully breaking ties with Israel include the Netherlands – the state which led the most recent call for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement in March after Israel breached a ceasefire in Gaza.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also said he was against. “Our position is different from that of Spain,” Mr Tajani said, adding that it was important to keep relations open with Israel because it had been of use in the evacuation of some civilians out of Gaza.
His Irish counterpart, Simon Harris, said he “personally” supports a full suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement, but recognised “there would not be consensus for that. That would require unanimity.”
“The consequences aren't about punishment,” Mr Harris said, in response to a question from The National. “The consequences are about trying to change behaviour, trying to use every lever at our disposal to end the genocidal activity that we're seeing in Gaza.”
A third of Israel's imports come from the EU, valued at $27 billion annually, while Europe imports less than 1 per cent of its goods from Israel, according to the EU Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security.
A review was requested in March by the Netherlands and supported by 17 out of 27 EU states. Those who opposed it included Germany. “When all the focus is on Iran and the escalation regarding Iran, we should not forget about Gaza,” said the Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, who led the charge for the review.
While a unanimous vote would be needed to suspend the EU-Israel agreement entirely, a partial suspension is possible with a simple majority vote. Diplomats have declined to speculate on that possibility due to the sensitivity of the topic, and have said they will wait for the EEAS's recommendations.
The EEAS delivered the eight-page report to states on Friday. Some countries complained that they were not given enough time to study it before Monday's meeting of foreign ministers. A senior EEAS official dismissed that, saying: “Sometimes it takes [a] long [time], sometimes it takes [a] shorter [time]. That is also how it works when you have difficult documents and make sure also that the right assessment is being made again.”
Israel has criticised the report's conclusions. “This report and its conclusions should not be taken seriously or used as a basis for any future actions or conversations,” Israel said in a letter to the EU Commission and the EEAS, according to Euronews. “Decency would dictate addressing the report’s shortcomings and dismissing it in its entirety,” it said.
