BRUSSELS (AP) — More than 60 nations sent representatives to Brussels Monday to discuss with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa stability, security and long-term peace in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, as global attention largely remains focused in the Middle East on the ongoing crises in Iran and Lebanon.
Ongoing attacks in the West Bank and continued devastation in Gaza have dimmed the prospect for a two-state solution, said Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot ahead of the meeting Monday. He is co-hosting the meeting with the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas.
“We observe without naivety that the two-state solution is being made more difficult by the day,” Prévot said. “But Belgium and many European and Arab partners continue to believe that this remains the only realistic path to a lasting peace, for Israelis, for Palestinians and for the stability of the entire region.”
Nikolay Mladenov, the director of the Board of Peace created by United States President Donald Trump, and a well-known figure in Brussels, also attended the meeting.
Palestinians in the West Bank say that Israel has used the cover of the Iran war to tighten its grip over the territory, as settler attacks surge and the military imposes additional wartime restrictions on movement, citing security.
Gaza requires “one state, one government, one law and one goal,” Mustafa said on Monday in Brussels.
“Our common objective of achieving one security structure under the legitimate authority should guide the effective coordination between the International Stabilization Force, the Palestinian Authority, security institutions and other international actors. Security must not be fragmented,” he said.
He also called for “the gradual and responsible collection of arms from all armed groups and also the full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.”
The 27-nation European Union is the largest single donor to the Palestinian Authority, with its 90-year-old president Mahmoud Abbas ruling from Ramallah for two decades. And while the EU has avoided directly joining the Board of Peace, preferring the multilateralism of the United Nations and global legal norms, the bloc is eager to not be sidelined in diplomacy in a volatile region just across the Mediterranean.
Outrage in Europe over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza drove many EU leaders to condemn Israel’s war conduct and to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. With the recent election defeat of long-serving Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of Netanyahu, there might now be enough political support within the bloc for stronger actions like targeted sanctions on Israeli settlers or even the suspension of some ties to Israel.
Hungarian election winner Péter Magyar said during his first news conference on April 13 that he would seek “pragmatic relations” with Israel but also rejoin the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. Orbán had defied that warrant while hosting Netanyahu in Budapest in 2025 and then started the process of Hungary leaving the world’s only court for war crimes and genocide.
