While the leading European Union foreign ministers are primarily preoccupied with the refugee crisis and the implementation of the Iran agreement, there is growing pressure from some key players to be more assertive in advancing a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. These key players include High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy Federica Mogherini and the foreign ministers of France, Spain and Italy (Laurent Fabius, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo y Marfil and Paolo Gentiloni).

A senior foreign policy source in the EU headquarters in Brussels told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity that despite improving relations between the EU and the United States due to the Iran deal, there is a divide in policy outlook when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. It has been made clear to the EU leadership that President Barack Obama is not going to engage in a dynamic effort to revive peace talks. At most, the United States will be involved in efforts to prevent violence in and from the West Bank and Gaza.

The EU acts according to a different timeline and perceives an urgent need to strengthen the status of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to ensure his place in the moderate camp. The Brussels source told Al-Monitor that the EU member states will act in three directions.

The first step will be curbing Israeli settlement expansion. Next month, all 28 EU member states will begin labeling goods imported from Israeli settlements. This move could hurt Israeli exports and for the first time make Israel a target of economic sanctions. This plan may be implemented more rigidly by some member states (France, United Kingdom) and less by others (Germany, Holland), but there is a broad consensus among the 28 EU foreign ministers about the need for such a policy.