Foreign and Expatriates Minister Riad al-Malki today urged the European Union (EU) to support President Mahmoud Abbas’ alternative to the recently revealed US ‘peace plan’.
Al-Malki urged the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to support Abbas’ initiative to hold an international peace conference based on the United Nations resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.
In a nutshell, the Palestinian vision for the peace process comprises holding an international peace conference under the auspices of the Middle East Quartet, which includes the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, and the permanent member states of the Security Council, in the presence of Palestine and Israel.
The conference, which Abbas called for, aims at implementing the Security Council resolutions, specifically 2016’s Resolution 2334, and the two-state solution and Arab Peace Initiative by establishing an international mechanism sponsoring the negotiations between the two sides and refusing any unilateral US sponsorship for the negotiation process.
Al-Malki applauded the EU’s firm position on the Palestinian question and briefed Burrell on international and regional positions rejecting the US ‘peace plan’, which aims to dismiss the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and establish its independent state.
He stressed the need to establish a multilateral mechanism to salvage the peace process given the US total bias in favor of the Israeli policy of settler-colonialism, and cautioned against Israel’s planned annexation of large parts of the West Bank.
He called upon the EU to take practical steps to deter Israel and stressed the need that the EU countries recognize the independent Palestinian state.
The EU top diplomat reiterated the EU’s firm positions on the peace process and the two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders, without recognizing any alternation of these borders, except through the agreement of the concerned parties.
He also reiterated the EU’s firm position on the establishment of the independent fully-sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital of the two states, in line with international resolutions and the EU Foreign Ministers Council’s resolutions.
- He affirmed that the EU Foreign Ministers Council would convene on February 23 to discuss the Middle East peace process and steps necessary to salvage the two-state solution.
