It has been five very busy days. In Israel, I met President Herzog, Foreign Affairs Minister Cohen, Minister Ganz, members of the Israeli Defence Forces, two groups of family members of hostages held in Gaza and leading figures from civil society. I then travelled to Ramallah, headquarter of the Palestinian Authority, where I met President Abbas, Prime Minister Shatyyeh and Foreign Minister Malki, as well as leading figures from Palestinian civil society. I also discussed with the UN agencies working in the West Bank and Gaza. 

During the following days, I participated at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, where I met Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan, Bahrain Foreign Affairs Minister Al Zayani and many regional and international actors. I then travelled to Qatar, where I met the Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Al Thani and finally to Jordan where I was received by King Abdullah II. 

I am not going to report on each o these activities in this blog. Instead, I would like to share with you two main takeaways from this trip. On the one hand, a sense of absolute urgency, and on the other, a sense of tenuous hope. 

Absolute urgency for the civilian population in Gaza

In terms of absolute urgency, representatives of UN agencies and the Palestinian Authority informed us in detail of the dramatic situation of the civilian population in Gaza regarding the lack of water, food, medical assistance, and shelter resulting from the siege imposed on the enclave at a time when rain and cold are arriving. 

They also presented us with the figures of death and destruction brought by the bombing and the military operations. More than 40 % of the housing has been demolished in Gaza and more than 12 000 persons have died according to Gaza health authorities, of which nearly 5000 were children. The information received on the situation on the ground in Gaza unfortunately confirmed the worst fears we could have had on this subject before our departure. 

The Israeli military explained to us their plan to create a small safe area along the sea in the southern part of Gaza to concentrate there the civilian population in order to carry out ground operations in the south of the enclave. This did not reassure me about the future course of events, if we fail to achieve a rapid and durable de-escalation of the military operations.

Very moving meetings with families of hostages

My two meetings with families of hostage were a very moving moment during this trip. It made fully understandable the shock that the Israeli society suffered from the Hamas attack. For many of them the memory of the Holocaust resurfaced again: “they did it to us just because we are jews”. 

Some families reported about the health problems from which many hostages suffer. This underlined, if necessary, the absolute urgency of moving forward on their release to have a chance of returning them alive to their families. They asked me to do all that I could to help release them. I have raised the issue with all my interlocutors during this trip. 

I also visited the kibbutz of Be’eri where we witnessed, particularly in a school, the destructive violence deployed during the terrorist attack perpetrated on October 7. The Israeli armed forces showed us also some of the barbaric videos recorded by Hamas terrorists during that day.

One horror cannot justify another

There is of course no doubt that many actions carried out on 7 October by Hamas were was crimes; however, as I told my Israelis interlocutors, one horror cannot justify another. The respect for human life is what makes the difference between a civilised society and terrorist actors. 

“The issue in Gaza is not only to deliver enough humanitarian aid to allow the civilian population to survive for some more days, but to avoid continuing to endanger their lives.”

The issue in Gaza is indeed not only to deliver enough humanitarian aid to allow the civilian population to survive for some more days, but to avoid continuing to endanger their lives. As some of my interlocutors told me, it is of course necessary to provide food, water and medicines but it is even more important to reduce the risk of being killed the next morning. 

Inacceptable violence against Palestinians in the West Bank

Our sense of urgency was further heightened by what we heard from UN agencies, Palestinian Authotity leaders and civil society representatives in Ramallah regarding the situation in the West Bank. They presented us the dramatic increase in violence against Palestinians by settlers, who have been given weapons by the government, the growing number of evictions of entire villages, the army incursions, the economic disaster triggered by the revocation of all work permits in Israel and the very negative consequences of the massive cuts in the PA budget decided by the Israeli government. Since the beginning of the year, more than 400 Palestinians have died in the West Bank, about half of them since 7 October. And more than 35 villages have been emptied from their Palestinian population since then. 

It is creating tremendous tension, which probably cannot be contained for long, despite the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to prevent escalation. US President Biden as well as several European leaderrs have already required the Israeli government to stop the violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. 

“A race against the clock is on to bring about a de-escalation of the military operations in Gaza and of the violence in the West Bank, failing which the conflict could easily degenerate and spread.”   

A race against the clock is obviously on to bring about a de-escalation of the military operations in Gaza and of the violence in the West Bank, failing which the conflict could easily degenerate and spread.  

Israel cannot avoid to make peace with the Palestinians

On the tenuous hope side of the medal, although it is not yet recognised by the leaders of the country, the events of the last weeks have started to challenge the dominant idea in the Israeli society that, thanks to strict security measures and rapprochement with Arab countries, Israel could avoid making peace with the Palestinians. Israel is understandably going through a period of intense emotions and tensions but there are still forces inside Israeli society already willing to search for a lasting peace with the Palestinians. I was very moved in particular by a video message of a young woman, survivo of the Be'eri kibbutz that we visited, asking with much conviction for a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the end, only peace can indeed provide real and sustainable security to Israel. 

“In the end, only peace can provide real and sustainable security to Israel."

The Palestinian Authority showed a firm resolve and readiness to take over the management of Gaza once the military operations ended. However, to do so, this authority will need a lot of additional support in the coming months. It will also need to be re-legitimised in due time by organising elections throughout the internationally recognised Palestinian territory: Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.   

A widely shared desire to avoid an escalation of the conflict 

On the side of the neighbouring countries, the desire to avoid an escalation of the conflict is also strong and widely shared by the leaders from the Gulf region and from Jordan, as is their commitment to help solve the crucial hostages’issue. All the people I spoke to in the region shared our concern that this war should be the last by finding the means to finally put in place the two-state solution that the international community has been advocating for decades.  

“This war should be the last by finding the means to finally put in place the two-state solution.”  

Despite the huge challenges and urgencies mentioned earlier, there may be a window of opportunity to advance towards peace between Israeli and Palestinian and in the region. We must of course first find ways to free the hostages and protect the lives of the civilian population in Gaza, but in parallel, we need to seize this opportunity before another crisis diverts the world's attention once again. The EU is ready to take its full part of this very challenging work.