Brussels: Europe and the Arabs 

EU countries are heading into another clash over long-planned sanctions against Israel next month, but are still unlikely to reach an agreement, three European diplomats involved in the negotiations told Playbook. The capitals remain stuck even though Israel's rejection of the Gaza plan proposed by Donald Trump's peace council undermines one of the arguments against taking action. According to what is published on the website of the Playbook magazine in Brussels, which is the European version of the American Politico magazine, the foreign ministers will return to the topic of whether to impose trade restrictions and blacklist Israeli politicians when they meet in the Irish city of Wicklow in the so-called “Gimnish” on September 1 and 2. This is less than two months before the Israeli elections scheduled for October 27. The EU's chief diplomat, Kapa Kallas, who is convening the meeting, will write to governments with the agenda in the coming days.
Divided opinion: Kaya Kallas has over the past year tried to broker the majority needed between capitals to suspend trade with what the EU says are illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and the unanimous support needed to sanction far-right ministers over human rights concerns.
Impediment to peace plan: But some national governments resisted these efforts, with countries such as the Czech Republic and Germany warning about moving forward while peace talks were underway. These concerns have now been put aside due to Israel's rejection of the peace council agreement.
NO TO THE COUNCIL: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the 15-point document on Sunday, saying that an Israeli military withdrawal from the war-torn territories that was part of the plan was unacceptable before Hamas was completely disarmed.
It's politics: “I expected [the plan] to be rejected because of the current political circumstances in Israel,” said Hildegard Bentele, a member of the European Parliament and head of the parliament’s delegation to Israel. Anything other than insisting on disarming Hamas “is very difficult to explain to the Israeli public, whose main concerns remain security concerns.”
Political Sensitivities: While the thwarting of the Gaza plan has allayed concerns about interference in peace talks, concerns that EU sanctions could play a role in Israel's election campaign remain. Diplomats from three separate EU countries, who requested anonymity to speak frankly, said that despite support from countries such as Sweden and the Netherlands, there would be no real consensus on action until after the election.
Backfire warning: Proposed sanctions on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, for example, could backfire and boost his far-right Otzma Yehudit party at the ballot box, one diplomat said.
Speaking of which: Dublin, which has long advocated tougher measures against Israel, believes it is important to put sanctions on the agenda, even though the impasse remains unresolved, one diplomat said. Klaas also pledged to return to the discussion after it was shut down during a tense meeting in July.
Waiting is a strategy shared by Washington: “We recognize the complexities that come from the Israeli elections, and obviously we will give [Netanyahu] space to try to navigate that,” a Trump administration official told my fellow Americans.
Give diplomacy a chance: Israel is keen to avoid sanctions before or after the elections, and insists it is prepared to engage with the European Union to allay fears. “For anyone who is concerned about the Palestinians, the answer is to work with Israel, not against us,” Israel’s ambassador to the bloc, Avi Nir Feldklein, told Playbook. He praised the recent diplomatic efforts made by Mediterranean Commissioner Dubravka Šuica due to advanced humanitarian projects in Gaza.