TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS will be in Brussels today for the first summit meeting between the EU and countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

Tomorrow, Harris will then attend a meeting of the European Council and the situation in the Middle East will feature prominently in both meetings.

Migration and the ongoing war in Ukraine will also be discussed at the European Council.

Speaking ahead of today’s meeting, Harris said that EU leaders and leaders across the Middle East “have a responsibility to do all we can to bring an end to the devastating violence we are witnessing with horror”.

Harris said he has “repeatedly said that the international community must use all levers at our disposal to bring about a ceasefire”.

He called for the European Council to “deliver a strong and united message”.

Harris added that he and the Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez will continue to call for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

The agreement aims to provide a legal and institutional framework for political dialogue and economic cooperation between the EU and Israel.

Harris said the need for a review of this agreement “has become more pressing since the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice in July on Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories”.

In July, the UN’s top court said that Israeli settlement policies in Palestinian territories are in breach of international law.

Elsewhere, Harris said he will “engage with other EU Member States with troops serving with UNIFIL in Lebanon to ensure that our peacekeepers are fully protected”.

Harris added that the EU needs to “send a strong signal of support for UNIFIL and for the UN more generally”.

“The deliberate targeting by Israel of UNIFIL positions is against international law and cannot be tolerated,” said Harris.

In the last three weeks more than 20 soldiers from UNIFIL have been injured either from fire or the actions of Israeli tanks or in artillery incidents.

There has also been direct fire onto positions at the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura. 

There are 10,500 soldiers from 50 countries deployed in the UN peacekeeping mission – 350 of those are Irish Defence Forces personnel.

Meanwhile, Harris noted that Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy will join tomorrow’s European Council meeting.

“Ukraine is looking into a bleak and difficult winter,” said Harris, “and it is more important than ever that the EU continues to stand with it in every way we can.”

And on the top of migration which will come up in tomorrow’s meeting, Harris said: “We do not want to see a fortress Europe, but we do need a secure and fair Europe.”

He said this means having a migration system that recognises the benefits of legal migration, “while also being equipped to deal with irregular migration, to combat people-traffickers, to secure our borders and to work with international partners to tackle the root causes that drive people from their homes”.