Eide: We must support an Arab peace plan

The meeting will be held on Sunday evening, on the sidelines of a regional meeting in the World Economic Forum (WEF), and it will take place at the invitation of Norway and Saudi Arabia.

– The closest we have to a comprehensive peace plan is the one Arab countries are currently working on. It is important that we support this. It is simply better to have one plan than no plan, says Eide to NTB.

– Recognition of a Palestinian state is not an end in itself, but a tool we can use once. When a country like Norway uses it, we must know that it can have an effect, he says.

Not “Hamas State”

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell and foreign minister Antony Blinken are also present in Riyadh, as are the foreign ministers from European countries such as Germany and Great Britain.

They will not participate in the meeting that Eide and Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal have invited, but will be briefed afterwards, NTB is told.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the foreign ministers from a number of Arab countries, on the other hand, will participate in the talks on a peace plan.

– We will talk about what must happen on the Palestinian side to prepare for a Palestinian state, and how to strengthen the Palestinian Authority so that they can also rule in Gaza after a ceasefire, says Eide.

– We don’t want a “Hamas state”, but one Palestinian state that is politically connected, that springs from the Palestinian Authority, he says.

New momentum

Israel’s warfare in the Gaza Strip, which in the last six months has claimed more than 34,000 Palestinian lives, has created new momentum that must be exploited, the foreign minister believes.

– The enormous suffering in Gaza has once again directed the eyes of the international community towards the unresolved situation between Israel and Palestine, and now there is momentum to bring about a proper political process, he says.

– Efforts are being made to establish a ceasefire. That is the goal in the short term. At the same time, it is crucially important to think about what should happen in the slightly longer term, and how we can progress in the work for a Palestinian state, he says.

– Because only a two-state solution is a real solution to this. Without any idea of ​​where to go next, agreement on a ceasefire can also be difficult, Eide believes.

No will

Neither Hamas nor Israel is represented during the talks in Riyadh, and today’s far-right government in Israel shows no willingness to negotiate a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also made it clear that he opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.

– Even if the current Israeli government is not there now, the world community as a whole is very clear that we need a two-state solution, says Eide.

Met in China

At the same time as this weekend’s meeting in Riyadh, emissaries from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas met in Beijing to discuss the possibilities of reconciliation.

A Hamas source stated on Friday that their delegation was led by Moussa Abu Marzouk, while the Palestinian ruling party Fatah stated that their delegation was led by Azzam al-Ahmed.

Over the past year, China has played an increasingly active diplomatic role in the Middle East and last year succeeded in getting the two regional rivals, Saudi Arabia and Iran, to restore diplomatic relations.

The Chinese authorities have also tried to set up an international peace conference to resolve the conflict between Israel and Hamas and are also working for Palestine to gain full status in the UN as a state.

Abbas with a prayer to the United States

Netanyahu has for a long time announced an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, where over 1.1 million internally displaced Palestinians have sought refuge.

The UN, aid organizations and a number of countries, including the USA and Norway, have strongly warned against this and fear large civilian casualties.

– It will be the biggest disaster in the history of the Palestinian people, Abbas said in Riyadh on Sunday.

– We urgently ask the US to ask Israel to stop the Rafah operation, because they are the only ones capable of preventing Israel from committing this crime, he said according to AFP.