.jpg)
Russia says Palestinian state 'most reliable' solution
BSS/AFP
09 October, 2023, 10:05 pm
Last modified: 09 October, 2023, 10:08 pm
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that creating a Palestinian state was the "most reliable" solution for peace in Israel and that fighting terrorism alone would not ensure security.
✓ He spoke during a press conference with the head of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who visited Russia after the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched a massive surprise attack on Saturday.
Creating a "Palestinian state that would live side by side with Israel... is the most reliable path to solve (the conflict)," Lavrov said.
"We cannot agree with those who say that security can only be ensured through a fight with terrorism."
He said Moscow was "deeply concerned that hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians have died and that the Gaza Sector has been declared a target for Israeli retaliation."
Lavrov said Russia -- in the midst of its almost 20-month long Ukraine offensive -- had "serious questions" about Western policy on Israel.
"They say that (fighting) should be stopped immediately, that Israel should destroy the terrorists," Lavrov said.
"But this was done before... and never after the situation calmed down did they come to the fact that the main reason (for the conflict) needs to be eliminated," he said.
"The Palestinian problem should not be delayed further."
.jpg)
Lavrov earlier said that Russia and the Arab League would work to "stop the bloodshed" in Israel and Gaza.
Aboul Gheit, meanwhile, said he condemned "the violence, but from all sides."
"We demand the creation of political prospects and a fair resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," he said.
The Kremlin said Monday it feared a foreign player could enter the conflict after the US moved warships closer to its ally Israel.
"The risk of third forces becoming involved in this conflict is high," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.
"It is very important to find ways as soon as possible to move towards some kind of negotiation process in order to reduce this escalation and move away from a military solution," he said.
Palestinian state ‘most reliable’ solution to conflict with Israel: Russia
Moscow has ‘serious questions’ about Western policy on Israel, Russia’s top diplomat tells the head of the Arab League.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that creating a Palestinian state was the “most reliable” solution for peace in Israel and that fighting alone would not ensure security.
Lavrov spoke on Monday during a news conference with the head of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who visited Russia after Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules Gaza, launched a massive surprise attack on Saturday.
.jpg)
Creating a “Palestinian state that would live side by side with Israel … is the most reliable path to solve [the conflict]”, Lavrov said.
“We cannot agree with those who say that security can only be ensured through a fight with terrorism.”
✓ He said Moscow was “deeply concerned that hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians have died and that the Gaza Sector has been declared a target for Israeli retaliation”.
Lavrov said Russia – in the middle of its almost 20-month-long Ukraine offensive – had “serious questions” about Western policy on Israel.
“They say that [fighting] should be stopped immediately, that Israel should destroy the terrorists,” Lavrov said.
“But this was done before … and never after the situation calmed down did they come to the fact that the main reason [for the conflict] needs to be eliminated,” he said.
“The Palestinian problem should not be delayed further.”
✓ Lavrov earlier said that Russia and the Arab League would work to “stop the bloodshed” in Israel and Gaza.
Aboul Gheit, meanwhile, said he condemned “the violence, but from all sides”.
“We demand the creation of political prospects and a fair resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” he said.
The Kremlin said on Monday it feared a foreign player could enter the conflict after the US moved warships closer to its ally Israel.
“The risk of third forces becoming involved in this conflict is high,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.
“It is very important to find ways as soon as possible to move towards some kind of negotiation process in order to reduce this escalation and move away from a military solution,” he said.
MOSCOW: Arab League Chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit headed to Moscow on Sunday for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the situation in Gaza after Hamas launched the most significant attack on Israel in years.
Aboul Gheit, who served as Egypt’s foreign minister during the final seven years of Hosni Mubarak’s rule, will discuss the “ongoing escalation in the Gaza Strip,” said a spokesman for the Cairo-based league of Arab states.
After violence flared on Saturday, Russia expressed grave concern, calling on both Palestinian and Israeli sides to cease violence and blamed the West for blocking the Middle East Quartet.
Moscow said that a proper negotiation was necessary to provide for the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the borders of 1967 with a capital in East Jerusalem.
“We regard the current large-scale escalation as another extremely dangerous manifestation of a vicious circle of violence resulting from chronic failure to comply with the corresponding resolutions of the UN and its Security Council and the blocking by the West of the work of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators made up of Russia, the US, the EU and the UN,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged diplomatic efforts in the Middle East in order to prevent wider conflict, saying that “only through negotiation leading to a two-state solution can peace be achieved.”
The UN’s human rights chief Volker Turk said: “I call for an immediate stop to the violence, and appeal to all sides and key countries in the region to de-escalate to avoid further bloodshed.”
The German government said it was reviewing its hundreds of millions of dollars of aid for Palestinians.
Development Minister Svenja Schulze said the government had always been careful to check that the money was only used for peaceful ends.
“But these attacks on Israel mark a terrible fracture,” she said.
“We will now review our entire engagement for the Palestinian territories.”
Germany would discuss with Israel how development projects in the region could best be served, and coordinate with international partners, said the minister for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left government.
Some German lawmakers, from the opposition conservatives in particular, called for an end to the aid.
“All of Europe, all 27 states, must now say: We need a new start, and we will no longer finance terrorists,” said Armin Laschet, chancellor candidate for the conservatives at the last federal election, calling for an end to EU cooperation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in the West Bank.
Gregor Gysi, a prominent member of the opposition Left party, argued against such a move, saying Hamas, and not all Palestinians, were responsible for the attack.
Israel-Palestine war could further test EU's foreign policy
Welcome to EURACTIV’s Global Europe Brief, your weekly update on the EU from a global perspective.
You can subscribe to receive our newsletter here.
In this week’s edition: A new Israel-Palestine war, post-Granada hangover, Kenya dispatch and Urpillainen interview.
As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues to rage in the east, tensions between Serbia and Kosovo and Azerbaijan’s offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, Europe faces a new challenge in its neighbourhood with the significant escalation in the Middle East after Hamas launched a ‘surprise’ attack on Israel on Saturday (7 October).
The new conflict in the EU’s near neighbourhood, which has so far seen more than 500 deaths, is set to heap more pressure on the bloc as it finds itself in a series of crisis management efforts.
It also comes just weeks after the EU had hoped to drive a new ‘incentives’-focused Middle East peace initiative aimed at re-starting talks between Israel and Palestine.
Hamas had caught Israel off-guard early Saturday with thousands of rockets fired and dozens of heavily armed gunmen storming into Israel’s south. Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) responded by striking Hamas targets in Gaza.
“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared. “And we will win,” he said in a message to Israelis.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military early Sunday appears to be preparing for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip as its operation to free hostages and seize Hamas militants still in Israeli territory gained steam.
Israeli officials said at least 250 Israelis died in Hamas attacks on Saturday, with more than 1,590 wounded. At least 230 Palestinians have been killed and 1,610 wounded in Gaza by Israeli retaliation after the Hamas attack.
✓ Even during the so-called Second Intifada, a major Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s, there were never a hundred or more deaths on a single day.
Overnight, the IDF recaptured all but eight sites held by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, and began conducting house-to-house sweeps for any remaining gunmen.
European leaders condemned Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel early Saturday and proclaimed Israel’s right to defend itself. Turkey said it is ready to help de-escalate the tensions, possibly looking at a mediator role.
“The priority now is to cease violence immediately and to deescalate, as well as to release all hostages,” the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell told reporters, who said on Sunday he had spoken to both Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.
“The scale of the aggression has taken the international community by surprise, but we were aware that going forward without peace was not sustainable,” Borrell told reporters.
“As we said in the statement earlier today, the EU recalls the importance of working towards a lasting and sustainable peace through reinvigorated efforts in the Middle East Peace Process,” Borrell said.
“That is precisely why, together with the League of Arab States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, we started a joint initiative to help revitalise the Two-State solution,” he said.
Almost 50 foreign ministers from Europe and the Middle East met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September to unveil a new initiative, dubbed the ‘Peace Day Effort’, which aims to revive the long-dormant peace process between Israel and Palestine.
“The EU’s position remains that the way forward lies in the two-state solution,” Borrell added.
Early next week, Borrell is scheduled to be in Muscat, Oman, for a meeting of the EU and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers, where the escalation will likely top the agenda.
While initial responses to the terror attacks from Israel’s Arab neighbours indicate that while they are likely to stick to support for Palestinians, they are wary of the escalation derailing recent efforts of normalisation in the region.
✓✓ The Saudis have never recognised Israel as a nation and always officially sided with the Palestinians.
In US-brokered talks aimed at Saudi normalisation with Israel in a deal involving American security guarantees for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia called on both sides to exercise restraint.
In a phone call with Borrell, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi stressed the need for international action to stop escalation in Gaza and “create a real political horizon to end the occupation”, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
✓ Analysts, meanwhile, are split on whether the Hamas attack could be seen as a violent veto of the recently positive signs in Middle East peace efforts, which have been slowly taking shape between the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
“This must have taken months to prepare to coordinate land/air/sea forces in a coordinated matter, each with clear tactical objectives and preparedness,” Jerome Drevon, senior analysis at Crisis Group, said.
“It can’t be just a short-term response to recent developments, including Saudi-Israeli normalisation,” he added.
Some also point to the fact that the conflict has beneficiaries outside Hamas, notably Iran – and Russia.
The Kremlin is likely to exploit Hamas’ attack on Israel to divert Western support and attention away from Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported in its daily assessment.
For Europe, that adds another headache as it is increasingly forced to split its attention between all crises.
As a certain European foreign minister told Euractiv earlier this week in Kyiv, even before the recent developments: “Lots of small and big fires everywhere – and we have no good fire extinguisher at hand.”
GRANADA HANGOVER | While showing unity and steadfast support for Ukraine took centre-stage as some 50 European leaders met for their third summit, the margins were dominated by the lack of progress in mediating Europe’s other crises. Here’s our analysis.
While enlargement was meant to loom large over the two days, it was somewhat overshadowed by more pressing issues such as migration, which hasn’t originally been planned to be on the agenda. EU leaders did declare support for adding new members to the bloc, though they avoided committing to any target date and warned candidates such as Ukraine that there would be no shortcuts.
UKRAINE SUPPORT | Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told European leaders in Granada that he remained confident of America’s continued support despite the recent political upheaval there, while the EU warned it would not be able to fill any funding gap left by Washington.
Earlier this week, EU foreign ministers had rushed to assure Kyiv of their continued support, amid concerns that a pro-Russian candidate’s win in Slovakia and the US Congress dropping Ukraine war aid from its spending bill might be a sign of its waning.
AZERBAIJAN SANCTIONS | EU countries have asked the bloc’s diplomatic service EEAS to come up with punitive ‘options’ should the situation between Armenia and Azerbaijan deteriorate, but so far disagree about their intensity, Euractiv has learnt.
EU IN THE WORLD
✓ GLOBAL GATEWAY | Europeans must keep investing in development aid and infrastructure projects as competition from China, Russia and the United States mounts, International Partnerships Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen told Euractiv in an interview in Nairobi.
MOMBASA DISPATCH | Do you know where the avocados, pineapples, and mangoes you see at the store come from? How about those roses and flower bouquets you buy for your loved ones? If you live in Europe, there’s a high chance they come from East Africa and a good chance they departed from Mombasa port, in the south of Kenya.
ON OUR RADAR
- EU’s chief diplomat, Borrell, attends EU-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
| Su-Tue, 8-11 2023 | Muscat, Oman - Bulgaria hosts prime ministers of Greece, Moldova and Romania to discuss migration
| Mo, 9 October 2023 | Varna, Bulgaria
- State Duma Council meets to discuss Russia’s withdrawal from nuclear test ban treaty
| Mo, 9 October 2023 | Moscow, Russia
- Franco-German Council of Ministers meets
| Mo, 9 October 2023 | Hamburg, Germany
- UN General Assembly will elect the new members of the Human Rights Council (Russia is a candidate)
| Tue, 10 October 2023 | New York, United States - NATO defence ministers meet
| Wed-Thu, 11-12 October 2023 | Brussels, Belgium
- EU’s chief diplomat Borrell to hold EU-China Strategic Dialogue
| Thu-Sa, 12-14 2023 | Beijing, China - Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) Leaders’ Summit
| Fri, 13 October 2023 | Gotland, Sweden
- Berlin Process Summit
| Monday, 16 October 2023 | Tirana, Albania - EU-US Summit
| Friday, 20 October 2023 | Washington, United States
- EU foreign ministers meet
| Monday, 23 October 2023 | Luxembourg
- EU leaders summit
| Thu-Fri, 26-27 October 2023 | Brussels, Belgium
- EU’s presents annual enlargement package
| Wednesday, 8 November 2023 TBC| Brussels, Belgium
No comments:
Post a Comment