The Palestinians uprooted by their homes in the Gaza Strip must be entitled to a dignified return to their cities, and Europe will contribute to the reconstruction of the territory destroyed by the Israeli army. This is the request of the European Union that will be submitted next week to the Association Council with Israel, according to a document viewed by Reuters.
The text echoes the position of different Arab countries, but is in conflict with the aim stated by the former president Donald Trump to ensure that the United States take control of the destroyed coast strip and reconstruct it in a “Riviera del Middle East “, while the Palestinians are forced to emigrate to other nations, in what appears as an ethnic cleaning plan.
The Association Council
The EU, which was one of the main aid providers to the Palestinians, will illustrate its position to Israeli officials during the interviews to be held in Brussels on February 24, as part of the EU-Israel Association Council, the first session of this type since 2022.
A document that outlines Brussels’s draft position undergoes both Europe’s commitment to Israel’s security and the need to guarantee Palestinians the right to return to their homes. “Gaza’s displaced people should be guaranteed a safe and dignified return to their homes in Gaza”, reads the text. “The EU will actively contribute to a coordinated international effort for a rapid recovery and reconstruction in Gaza”, continues the document, which also asks for full humanitarian access.
“The EU deeply deplorates the unacceptable number of civilians, especially women and children, who have lost their lives and the catastrophic humanitarian situation caused, in particular, by the insufficient entry of aid into the strip, especially in the North”.
War
Israel launched the assault on Gaza after the fighters of the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked the south of Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli sources.
More than 48 thousand people were killed by the Israeli army in the conflict that followed, most of the cities was razed to the ground and most of the 2.3 million inhabitants in the region has been churned out several times.
“The EU firmly opposes all the actions that undermine the feasibility of the solution of the two states”, we still read in the document, with reference to the position of the Union according to which the Palestinians should have an independent homeland alongside Israel.
