European Union Ambassador to Israel, Emanuele Giaufret has declares that "it is impossible to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without American mediation." Speaking at a special conference at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on Israel-Europe relations, Giaufret said that senior EU officials have recently made it clear to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that he must find a way to conduct working relations with the American administration.
Giaufret said, "We are working with the White House on a solution, like the conference that was held last week in Washington on the Gaza Strip, and we expect that the Arab countries will also try to bring about regional reconciliation and end the conflict with the Palestinians." Asked about preventing aid to the PA as long as it pays salaries to murderers and their families, he claimed that European money was not used to pay terrorists and their families, explaining, "The EU has established a monitoring mechanism that ensures that the payment is made directly to the parties concerned with the issues defined by the EU."