The European Union is trying to react to the war between Israel and Hamas and the Member States have agreed to activate, under the Spanish presidency of the Council, the Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) mechanism, which will allow periodically monitor how the conflict may end up influencing the community group, in aspects such as security, migration or the fight against terrorism. And among the 27 there is significant concern about a possible increase “in radicalization and polarization.”

This route serves to bring together a group of experts to carry out the surveillance commissioned, and who will hold their first meeting this Friday, as community sources have confirmed to 20 minutes. Beyond this, there have been no conclusions from the Council of Interior Ministers held this Thursday in Brussels.. Likewise, more than ten countries have already included controls at their borders as a prevention measure.

When a crisis or disaster occurs, whether natural or man-made, the EU can use various sectoral crisis response mechanisms to provide help and resolve the situation.. Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) mechanisms support rapid and coordinated decision-making at EU political level in the event of serious and complex crises, including acts of terrorism. Through this mechanism, the Presidency of the Council – which in this case is in the hands of Spain until next December – coordinates the political response to the crisis by bringing together the EU institutions, the affected Member States (which in this case are all) and other key actors, such as the bloc's partners in the Middle East.

“We are concerned about radicalization, polarization, in a context of violence in the Middle East,” said the acting Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlaska, upon his arrival at the summit of ministers of the sector in the community capital.. Marlaksa, in fact, has regretted that this “polarization” could lead to an increase in hate crimes in Europe, and calls for working intensively to prevent it.

Right now the numbers of fatalities exceed 3,000 in Gaza and 1,400 in Israel, and the Minister of the Interior asks to “condemn all attacks and show solidarity with all of them”. Furthermore, the analysis that the Member States want to make refers not only to a possible increase in jihadist attacks, such as the one that occurred this past Monday in Brussels with two deaths, but also to a reaction by radical far-right forces.

The EU already tried this Wednesday to close ranks from the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. There, the acting Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, reiterated that Israel has every right to defend itself from Hamas terrorist attacks.. But it has to do so in accordance with International and Humanitarian Law with the objective of protecting the civilian population.. “Europe must fight terrorism and support the civilian population: barbarism cannot triumph,” he said.. The European Parliament in fact approved this Thursday a resolution in which it calls for a pause in the conflict so that the evacuation of civilians can be carried out.

For his part, the High Representative, Josep Borrell, emphasized that the Union must base the response on four pillars: “Firmness, humanity, political coherence and a proactive attitude to resolve the conflict.”. Furthermore, he wanted to make it clear that it is “compatible” to condemn “terrorist attacks” and at the same time “condemn attacks against the civilian population.”

Cutting off water to a population is not compatible with the law of war

Borrell repeated where the limits of war are, because this, he said, “has some rules” and it is necessary to take them into account.. “They are coined in International Law and we have said it referring to other conflicts. Cutting off water to a population is not compatible with the law of war,” he explained.. In this sense, he recalled the importance of the Oslo Accords and, defending the traditional position of the EU, stood on the side of the two-state solution.. “If we do not stop the cycle of violence, it will repeat itself in a few years,” he warned.

However, the head of European diplomacy considers that it is key to explore the necessary avenues for peace.. “It will not come alone, it must be built and the international community has not done everything it should have done to put the Oslo agreements into practice,” he said, while again asking “not to hold all Gazans responsible for the atrocities it commits.” and Hamas has committed.”

“How does lamenting a tragedy take away my moral strength to lament another?” Borrell asked himself in his turn to respond, before finishing his speech.. “I have the moral strength to condemn something if I condemn another similar thing when it has been done somewhere else, by other people perhaps closer to me.”. And if we do not understand this we cannot be useful in trying to resolve the conflict,” he concluded.. Regarding this, he also assured that the EU “would lack moral authority” if it only denounced massacres of civilians in Ukraine, following the Russian invasion of the country.

Also the Member States, which have the external competence of the EU, have finished closing ranks with a joint statement in which they “firmly” condemn the terrorist attacks by Hamas and call for the release of the hostages, urging Israel to defend itself in accordance with international standards, seek to ensure the arrival of humanitarian aid and commit to working “for a lasting peace” with the Union's partners in the Middle East.

In this scenario, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, recalled the need for Gaza to have basic needs covered while calling, again, for the release of the Hamas kidnapped people – among whom is the Spaniard Iván Illarramendi – “no conditions” of any kind. The Member States, at the same time, discussed ways for European citizens to leave the affected areas.. “Civilians have to be protected,” he concluded.