British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will convene Palestinian and Israeli officials in a push for progress on US President Donald Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan.
Ms Cooper will arrive in New York on Wednesday to chair a meeting of the UN Security Council. The session will bring together Palestinian and Israeli diplomats for the first time since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Ms Cooper will call for progress implementing Mr Trump's peace plan, which would see Hamas and other factions “agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza”.
A transitional committee is expected to look after the day-to-day running of public services in Gaza, with “oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body”, known as the Board of Peace.
Ms Cooper is also expected to call for international co-operation, “vital for addressing the situation in the [occupied] West Bank”.
Measures approved by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet have expanded Israel's enforcement authority over land use and planning in areas under the Palestinian Authority.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz have said they would remove long-standing restrictions on land sales to Israeli Jews in the West Bank, shift some control over sensitive holy sites – including Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs – and declassify land registry records to enable property acquisitions.
The European Union will be represented by Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica for the segment dedicated to Gaza.
“This is in line with our strong commitment to support people on the ground,” representative Guillaume Mercier said on Monday.
The EU is the largest financial backer of the Palestinian Authority. The bloc put together last year a multiannual support programme of 1.6 billion Euros ($1.8 billion) in addition to donating 500 million Euros in humanitarian aid since October 2023.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had been invited but will not be attending.
The EU Commission has clarified that the bloc is not planning to become a member of the board due to reservations over its charter, its governance and implementation. “No matter the status of engagement here in the board of peace what matters is what the EU can bring to the discussion and we have an important role to play,” Mr Mercier said.
Several European states have refused to join the board of peace, arguing that it reached beyond Gaza despite initial announcements.
UN Security Council member France, which was the first to decline an invitation, has also made it understood that it views the board as attempting to compete with the UN.
However some countries like Italy and Cyprus have said they would join the board as an observer without becoming a member. Hungary and Bulgaria are the only two EU countries to join as full members.
Ms Suica’s participation in the meeting has been criticised by the socialists and democrats in the European Parliament. They have called for a clarification. “This raises real questions about the purpose and authorisation of this engagement, at a time when the EU should univocally defend international law and multilateralism,” they said on Tuesday.
The EU’s foreign ministers meeting on Monday in Brussels are scheduled to discuss the board of peace with its director-general Nikolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian diplomat.
