The EU and Saudi Arabia together for a “Two-State solution”

The situation in Gaza and the West Bank keeps worsening, despite the International Court of Justice’s sentence imposing Netanyahu’s government to halt the military operations in Rafah and the recent endeavors by Spain, Norway, and Ireland to recognise Palestine officially. Reiterate once again the importance of focusing on the Two-State solution to bring peace to the Middle East, promote the coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians and avoid future escalations of the conflict. This was the main message that emerged at the Ministerial meeting on a coordinated approach to the recognition of Palestine organised in Brussels on 26th May 2024, attended by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Saudi Arabian Foreign Affairs Minister and Espen Barth Eide the Norwegian counterpart.

In this context, Borrell reinstated his concerns for the civilians in the Gaza Strip, and for the Israeli hostages in Hamas’s hands as well, reinforcing his claims to stop attacks from both sides and work together toward the realization of the two-state solution. “The future of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people depends a lot on Israeli policies”, said Borrell, appealing once again to the Netanyahu government common sense.

The Saudi Arabia Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, further elaborated on the strategic importance of the two-state solution, thanking Norway, Spain, Ireland, and even Slovenia, which “has started the process as well”. “Those are not just symbolic”, said Prince Faisal, “They emphasize the credibility of the Palestinian Authority towards maintaining the prospects of peace going forward”. The solution might also benefit Netanyahu’s government because the recognition of Palestine could “show that it  does have the capacity to live up to its responsibilities, including to ensure the security of its neighbors”.

Every effort heads toward the solution through dialogue and diplomacy on the Palestinian side. The Palestinian Authority’s Prime Minister, Mohammed Mustafa, outlined his three priorities to make its State “a viable, independent and sovereign” interlocutor. The first one is to “support our people in Gaza”, by “seeing a ceasefire taking place very quickly” and by “preparing as a government to do the necessary job of taking care of our people”.

The second priority, is reforming the Palestinian institutions. “We are going to work on implementing an agenda that we have developed over the last few weeks to turn around things in Palestine – said Mustafa – so that we not only get closer to our people, not only be able to provide services in a better fashion but also build the institutions of the state that we all want to see realized in the ground as soon as possible”.

Ultimately, the Palestinian Authority will work on stabilizing the local economy, under pressure by the ongoing situation. According to Mustafa, Netanyahu’s policies didn’t contribute to easing this condition: “In the last few months there is an increased pressure on the finances of the Palestinian Authority, because of the decisions by the Israeli government to withhold significant resources that are important to continue to provide services for our citizens”, concluded Mustafa.