EU foreign affairs chief invites Israeli, Palestinian leaders for peace talks

Oct. 10 (UPI) -- European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell invited the foreign ministers of Israel and Palestine to meet with EU commissioners in Brussels in an effort to defuse the war in the Middle East after four days of bloodshed.

Borrell announced he was convening an urgent meeting of EU foreign ministers to address the escalating crisis, saying he had invited Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to attend the talks.

There was no immediate indication whether either leader had responded to Borrell's invitation amid the ongoing conflict.

Diplomacy efforts have done nothing so far to de-escalate the crisis after Egyptian officials said days ago they were consulting with regional partners, including Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi, to bring an immediate end to the conflict.

The potential sit-down comes as Haim Regev, the Israeli ambassador to the EU, and in an interview with Politico called for Europe's help to contain the war within the borders of the Gaza strip.

Regev said Israel's retaliatory strikes would seek to cripple Hamas military facilities, and take out the group's ability to mount further hostilities.

He warned pro-Arab nations in the region to stay out of the conflict and urged the to "pass a strong message" to Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority that the conflict was solely with Gaza."

"The EU is a player here, the EU has its own contacts with Lebanon, they're supporting Ramallah, it should be clear [with them]," Regev said.

Ahead of the meeting, the European Commission also stepped in to settle a dispute that emerged after EU member nations announced the body was suspending $728.5 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority following the attack by Hamas against Israel.

The decision to put aside aid for new developments inside Gaza, however, faced immediate blowback from Luxembourg, Spain and Ireland, who argued the move would undermine anti-terrorism efforts in the region.

Instead, the commission said it would conduct an urgent review of the aid payments to Palestine while Borrell clarified it would "not suspend the due payments" as Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi previously said it would.

"The suspension of the payments -- punishing all the Palestinian people -- would have damaged the EU interests in the region and would have only further emboldened terrorists," Borrell said in support of maintaining the aid package

Regev also revealed that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was planning to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the phone in the coming hours.