The EU’s new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told the European media on Monday that she would like to see a Palestinian state by the time her five-year term is up.
“The important thing for me,” Mogherini said, “is not whether other states, European or not, recognize Palestine. What would make me happy, is if a Palestinian state existed at the end of my term.”
She issued her statement to the French daily newspaper Le Monde in advance of her visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Friday and Saturday.
Mogherini told Le Monde that the trip emphasized the significance she places both on the need to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the need to increase Europe’s role in making that happen.
“European action can be decisive in this key moment, which is probably the most difficult moment the region has ever seen,” she said.
Mogherini told the British newspaper The Guardian, “For the first time I believe … they need the European Union to be present in order to make steps forward at this time of their history. This might not have been the case in the past. But at this date I get the same messages from the Palestinian side, from the Israeli side, and from the key Arab countries, exactly in the same terms – we do need at this time the European Union to move forward.”
Mogherini replaces Catherine Ashton, who completed her five-year term at the end of October. Until now, she served as Italy’s Foreign Minister.
She was born after the 1967 Six-Day-War, in which Israel wrested control of the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan.
“There is an entire generation growing up with the Palestinian issue. I mean, I’m 41, I studied politics at 16 and this was the main campaign when I was at school,” she told The Guardian.