Israel‘s attack on Iran‘s strategic sites on 13 June, followed by the Iranian reprisal, has raised the prospect of a regional conflagration. Europe appears utterly powerless in the face of military escalation.
The UN conference on the creation of a Palestinian state, due to be held this week in New York under the aegis of France and Saudi Arabia, has been postponed indefinitely. According to some commentators, the reaffirmation of the French executive’s pro-Israeli stance undermines the increasingly audible criticism aimed by some European governments at Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza. Many also feel that the European Union has already lost all diplomatic influence in the region, despite political maneuvering – such as the review of the EU-Israel trade agreement – undertaken in an effort to influence the Hebrew state.
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