EU foreign ministers hold separate talks with their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts on the prospects for lasting peace after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a future two-state solution, AFP reports.

EU officials insist now is the time to talk about finally resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The 27 EU ministers will first meet with Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz, before sitting down separately with the Palestinian Authority’s top diplomat Riyad al-Maliki.

Katz and Maliki are not expected to meet each other.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia will also hold talks with the European ministers.

EU officials have sketched out broad conditions for “the day after” the current bombardment ends in Gaza, calling for no long-term Israeli occupation, an end to Hamas’s rule and a role for the Palestinian Authority in running the territory.

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