Ad Hoc Liaison Committee: press remarks by High Representative/Vice-President Kaja KALLAS, Espen Barth Eide, Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Mohammad Mustafa, Palestinian Prime Minister
Check against delivery!
Dear Prime Minister Mustafa, Foreign Minister Eide, dear Espen,
It is a pleasure to have you here in Brussels for two important meetings. After this press conference, we will convene Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, and this morning, we already had the Global Alliance for the implementation of the two-state solution.
The Middle East stands at the moment of risk and opportunity. The fragile ceasefires with Iran and Lebanon offer a narrow window to de-escalate, but of course, both ceasefires come with an expiry date. Diplomacy must deliver or the region will slide back into war.
In the Strait of Hormuz there are daily U turns over whether the waterway is open or closed. Any pay for passage scheme would set a dangerous precedent for global maritime routes.
In addition, regional actors and the European Union agree that there are other concerns besides the nuclear issue that need to be addressed, like the missile programme and the proxies that need to be addressed in the negotiations.
While much attention is on Iran and Lebanon, our meetings here show that we are not losing sight of Gaza and the West Bank. Wars ripple across borders and what happens in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict always affects the entire region.
I often hear accusations of double standards. That we support Ukraine, but we do not support the Palestinians. And let me get this straight: Europe is the biggest supporter of the Palestinian people. Europe is the largest donor and the main backer of the Palestinian Authority, European missions on the ground support Palestinian police, justice and governance and border management. You will not find a stronger supporter of the Palestinian people anywhere in the world.
Today the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee will focus on the next steps to support Gaza and the West Bank and I thank Espen for Norway's long-standing leadership on this. After years of war, we have to be honest that the needle on the two-state solution has not moved much; yet it remains the most viable path to the Middle East without war.
For the two-state solution to have a fighting chance, both sides must deliver. Israel must stop its settlement expansion, settler crimes need to be punished, Israel must release the withheld tax revenues - this money belongs to Palestinian people.
At the same time, Palestinian Authority needs to move with reforms in Gaza. Hamas refusal to disarm remains a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinian police and the International Stabilization Force need to deploy to Gaza as soon as possible to prevent further consolidation of power by Hamas.
Today, we also discuss governance. It is important that the Palestinian Authority and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza work together, not cross purposes. The EU fully supports the Gaza peace plan based on UN Security Council Resolution 2803, and today's meeting aims to keep all actors focused on that plan.
It was good to hear from the High Representative, Nickolay Mladenov, on the state of play. And by the way, it was also the first time that the High Representative Mladenov and the Prime Minister Mustafa met in person.
Finally, we will address recovery. The final Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment sets out what will be necessary. Rebuilding Gaza is estimated to cost at least €71 billion. And we have been working four months with World Bank, the UN and the European Union on this assessment - it has been released today.
Prime Minister Mustafa, Foreign Minister Eide, the Ad Hoc Committee has long been a key forum for supporting the Palestinian Authority and advancing state building. It is good that you are here to address these issues, and with that, Foreign Minister, over to you.
Q&A
Q. It is true that the European Union is the main and the first donor to the Palestinian, whether UNWRA or Palestinian Authority, and without the European Union maybe the Palestinian Authority cannot sustain. But the problem of these double standards is very true, because while you are sanctioning Russia with a 20th package almost, you have a lot of difficulties to sanction a group, four to five settlers, not speaking about the extremist Minister. So my question is: do you see any move in the European Union internal debates regarding concrete action regarding Israelis and the settlers?
We have 27 countries, and 26 countries want to put violent settlers’ sanctions in place. One does not, because we have the working methods as they are. So far, the one who does not want the sanctions on violent settlers has gotten the upper hand. Now, this country had elections, and will have a new government. I will not speak for the new government, but definitely I think we can look into all these policies and see whether they have a new approach.
Q. A follow-up on the on the proposition: Tomorrow, three countries - Spain, Slovenia and Ireland -, have asked to put on again a discussion the possibility of suspending totally or partially the Association Agreement with Israel. There are new elements on the table: the death penalty that has had a huge condemnation among the European Union, the actions on Southern Lebanon. So, my question is: do you see any shift, any possibility, any opening on doing something on this partially would require only QMV. And also, I am always wondering, if you think this is a good a chance to put more pressure, or is it counterproductive pushing more Israel, because there has already been a high, quite strong reaction against Spain from the Israeli government?
Member States have put this on the table, the suspension of the Association Agreement, which requires unified position. At the same time, we already have the measures on the table, some of them that require a qualified majority. So first, I think it should be assessed whether it is possible to move with those if the Member States have the wish to do so, to put pressure on Israel. But this is what we are going to discuss tomorrow. So, I will not run ahead of the events.
Q. I have a question for High Representative. The European Union often praises the progress of the Palestinian reforms. However, it comes along with the ongoing financial pressure and the continued withholding of the clearance revenues by Israel. Does the EU actually have power to push Israel to release these funds? Or will its role stay limited to providing emergency aids, without tackling the main political cause behind this crisis?
The European Union is pushing for reforms of the Palestinian Authority, and that is also true that they require funds. That is why we have been also supporting the Palestinian Authority, not only with financial means, we are the biggest supporters of the Palestinian Authority, but also, the know-how to do these reforms. When it comes to the revenues, we have been very clear with Israel that they have to release these revenues because they belong to Palestinians, and this is where the salaries and all come. We have tried with different ways to raise this, but we cannot force the Israelis. But we are continuing to do so. Every time we meet, we always raise this, and we always stress this, also with our partners that have leverage over Israel.
Q. First of all, to the High Representative and the Foreign Minister. Foreign Minister, you spoke with respect about Trump's so called Board of Peace. But do you think it is a useful formation compared to the meetings you've been having today, or is it as some fear simply hollowing out and undermining the United Nations? Would either of you consider accepting an invitation to a future meeting if it came your way, especially given the criticism that were leveled at your Commissioner colleague when she went last time?
On that, exactly the same that we are working together, but we are not joining the Board of Peace, because the Board of Peace that was foreseen in the United Nations Security Council Resolution was stricter, [it] was mentioning the role of Palestinians and also, the temporary nature of the Board of Peace. So, that is what we were also supporting in the United Nations Security Council, our Member States. But the charter of this organisation is not mentioning all these points that are important for us, and that is why we cannot join this Board of Peace. But, like I said, working together in the same direction is very important and to keep the Palestinians engaged, and like Espen was saying, to have the two meet here is actually very important, because for us, the role of Palestinians in building up a Palestinian State, it is the most important. It has to be Palestinian lead and Palestinian owned.
Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/media/video/I-287692