"Here was an opportunity for the EU to take a diplomatic lead," the Times of London said in an editorial Tuesday. "What it saw instead was an unseemly squabble," brought on by "outbreaks of national candor."
Turkey, which hopes to join the alliance, has separately proposed the idea of international monitors for any cease-fire and says that it is willing to contribute to such a mission.
Beyond the differences of opinion and the difficulty of getting 27 member nations to agree on a single approach, the EU also has few levers available to influence Israel.
Last month, the union's foreign ministers agreed to upgrade relations with Israel and forge closer political ties through regular meetings, despite longtime European opposition to Israeli policies regarding the Palestinian territories, particularly the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. But that agreement to strengthen ties is too recent to have borne any fruit.
In addition, although the EU is a member of the so-called quartet of international mediators involved in the Middle East peace process, the U.S. has always been the group's dominant force and the one to which Israel pays most heed.
"Politically they [the Europeans] are in a slightly weak position. They don't have any direct political leverage," said Claire Spencer, a Middle East expert at Chatham House, a London-based think tank.
Last summer, the EU and Israel agreed to free trade in several sectors, but there has been little talk during the current conflict of suspending that liberalization or using economic measures against Israel.
"If you look at actually what's happened and how they've reacted, some of the statements may have been more critical or harsher, but if you look at what they actually do -- the penalties and costs to Israel because of this -- it's really rather slim," Spencer said.
Public opinion is another matter. Demonstrations against Israel's Gaza incursion have attracted thousands of protesters throughout Europe.
The anger is feeding concerns about a rise in anti-Semitic violence. On Monday, a synagogue in southern France was attacked by assailants who tried to ram its gates with a car. In London, police are investigating a possible arson attempt at a synagogue, the Associated Press reported.
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henry.chu@latimes.com
