EU foreign policy chief calls for immediate efforts towards two-state solution

Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell has stressed the need for immediate efforts towards the two-state solution, rather than waiting for a ceasefire, in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"If you want to build the two-state solution, do not wait for the ceasefire. Start working on it from now on," Borrell told the Council on Foreign Relations, an influential U.S. foreign policy think tank, in New York on Friday.

The idea that we can start building peace after we stop the war is utopical and completely contrary to the dark reality, said Borrell, who is also the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. "We have to overlap the two processes," he noted.

Borrell has promoted the solution of creating a Palestinian state at several events on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.

At the Ministerial side event on the Middle East Peace Process on Friday, Borrell said "We have responsibility to thousands and thousands of innocent children who were killed" while warning that the way Israel has been conducting wars in the Middle East is certainly not a way to ensure security for Israel.

"These attacks against Lebanon have been creating such a great number of civilian casualties that cannot be justified by the right to defense," Borrell noted.

Israel has pounded Lebanon since Monday morning, killing over 700 people and injuring nearly 2,200 others, according to figures released by the Lebanese Health Ministry.

He also pledged that the EU will continue to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

"We are the biggest supporter to UNRWA. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to provide critical resources to ensure the agency's ongoing operations, and we call to international community to join us in this effort," Borrell said at the UNRWA Ministerial Level meeting in New York.

"Together we can make a tangible difference in the life of millions of people, nothing less than that," he added.