European foreign ministers are due to meet in Paris later today to discuss the crisis in Gaza, where Israel is still bombing despite calls from most of the world to call off the assault. Among the items on the agenda is reported to be a proposal from French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner to establish an 'aid corridor' to deliver urgently needed medical supplies and other humanitarian aid. This is perfectly feasible as the Gaza Strip is on the Mediterranean coast but is not likely to go down well with Israel, whose bellicose defence minister (and election candidate) Ehud Barak has promised to fight Gaza government Hamas "to the bitter end." Neither would it meet with the approval of the United States, which is barely bothering to hide its approval of the Israeli action. And it will certainly put British foreign secretary David Miliband on the spot if he has to choose between supporting the Europeans, led by the French who currently hold the EU presidency, and Israel and the United States (plus his boss PM Gordon Brown who, when push comes to shove, backs the US, just like his predecessor Tony Blair). Israel can hardly continue bombing if Gaza is full of EU aid workers and even Barak might think twice about ordering an assault on an EU aid ship. The obvious point of embarkation for such a vessel is Cyprus, near to the coast of Israel, once a British possession and still host to a huge British air force base. Is Miliband a man or a mouse?