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Greece seeks to act as Middle East peace broker
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'We are friends of Israel,' foreign minister says
By John Irish
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 23 - Israel is not facing sufficient pressure to end the war in Gaza and the escalation in Lebanon is a minefield that the international community may not be able to deal with, Greece's foreign minister said on Monday.
Greece was elected as a member of the United Nations Security Council for 2025-2026 earlier this year, and Athens believes the country's historical ties with the Arab world and Israel give it credibility to act as a peace broker.
"It seems that there is no effective pressure upon Israel. We are friends of Israel, and we're strategic partners of Israel, and we're trying to be as open and sincere with them," George Gerapetritis told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Greece condemned the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas Islamist militants against Israel but has called for a halt to Israel's ground and air assault on Gaza that Palestinian authorities say has killed more than 41,000 people and flattened whole cities.
"The truth is that at the moment there is a continuous, very strong reaction on the part of Israel," he said after a meeting with European Union and Arab foreign ministers.
{{/usCountry}}"The truth is that at the moment there is a continuous, very strong reaction on the part of Israel," he said after a meeting with European Union and Arab foreign ministers.
{{/usCountry}}Gerapetritis said it was crucial that Arabs and Europeans pursue joint rather than disparate initiatives that could weigh on Israel but that the escalation at the Israel-Lebanon border of the last few days showed a collective international failure.
"We have not prevented the spillover, and the more dispersed the war becomes, the more the situation becomes more complicated to be solved," he said. "Lebanon could easily be a zone of tremendous hostility, and this is something that we cannot deal with. It's a clear minefield."
Since June, Greece has been seeking to convince member states in Europe to join a project to temporarily bring children hurt and traumatised by war in Gaza to the European Union.
He said those talks, along with logistical coordination with Palestinians and Israelis, were ongoing and he hoped they would bear fruit soon. He said Greece could take in some 500 children for its part.
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