{"id":275997,"date":"2024-09-30T12:01:18","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T11:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=275997"},"modified":"2024-09-30T04:56:52","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T03:56:52","slug":"europeans-arab-and-muslim-nations-launch-a-new-initiative-for-an-independent-palestinian-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/09\/europeans-arab-and-muslim-nations-launch-a-new-initiative-for-an-independent-palestinian-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Europeans, Arab and Muslim Nations Launch a New Initiative for an Independent Palestinian State"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Flag of Palestine<\/p><\/div>\n

29 Sep 2024 <\/em>– European, Arab and Islamic nations have launched an initiative to strengthen support for a Palestinian state and its institutions, and prepare for a future after the war in Gaza<\/a><\/span> and escalating conflict in Lebanon, Norway\u2019s foreign minister said Friday [27 Sep].<\/p>\n

Espen Barth Eide told The Associated Press<\/em> that \u201cthere is a growing consensus in the international community from Western countries, from Arab countries, from the Global South, that we need to establish a Palestinian Authority, a Palestinian government, a Palestinian state \u2014 and the Palestinian state has to be recognized<\/a><\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eide said many issues need to be addressed, including the security interests of Israel and the Palestinians, recognition and normalization of relations after decades of conflict and the demobilization of Hamas as a military group<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are pieces of a bigger puzzle,\u201d Norway\u2019s chief diplomat said. \u201cAnd you can\u2019t just come in there with one of these pieces, because it only works if all the pieces are laid in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traction with Netanyahu is unlikely<\/h2>\n

But even if the puzzle is completed, it\u2019s unlikely to gain traction<\/a><\/span> with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Still, Eide believes that after decades of failed or stalled negotiations, \u201cwe need to take a new approach\u201d to achieving an independent Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

To accelerate work on these issues, Eide said almost 90 countries attended a meeting Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly\u2019s current gathering<\/a><\/span> of world leaders. He and Saudi Arabia\u2019s foreign minister co-chaired the session to launch \u201cThe Global Alliance for the Implementation of a Palestinian State and a Two-State Solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to see how we can come out of this deadlock and try to use this deep crisis also as an opportunity to move forward,\u201d Eide told a U.N. Security Council meeting on Gaza later Friday.<\/p>\n

Norway is the guarantor of the 1993 Oslo Accords, hailed as a breakthrough in the decades-long conflict between Arabs and Jews, which created the Palestinian Authority and set up self-rule areas in the Palestinian Authority<\/a><\/span>. Eide said more than 30 years later, Israel\u2019s \u201coccupation\u201d is continuing, and there there are no negotiations leading to a final settlement and an independent Palestinian state \u2014 which led to Norway\u2019s decision in May to recognize a Palestinian state<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Now, 149 of the U.N.\u2019s 193 member nations have recognized a Palestinian state. Eide urged all countries \u201cto contribute to universal recognition\u201d and strengthen Palestinian institutions so they live up to the expectations of people in the West Bank and are prepared to return to Gaza: \u201cWe want one Palestine, not different Palestines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Eide brought up the alliance again Saturday during his address to the annual meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, stressing that \u201cwhile cease-fires in Gaza and Lebanon are most urgently needed, ending hostilities must not be confused with lasting solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He again called on the 44 U.N. member nations that haven\u2019t done so to recognize the state of Palestine and allow it to become a full member of the United Nations.<\/p>\n

And he called on \u201ceveryone who can, to help to build Palestine\u2019s institutions, and on regional actors to help embed a political settlement in a broader regional framework.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that his country, the joint Islamic-Arab ministerial committee, Norway and the European Union launched the alliance \u201cbecause we feel responsible to act to change the reality of the conflict without delay.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told the assembly Saturday that the coalition aimed \u201cto promote the two-state solution,\u201d calling on all countries to join the group and to recognize the Palestinians as an independent state.<\/p>\n

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged all countries to take practical measures \u201cto bring about the free Palestine next to a secure Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

First meetings will be in Saudi Arabia and Belgium<\/h2>\n

Borrell said on X that the first meetings of the alliance would be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Brussels. Borrell asked rhetorically of anyone who opposes a two-state solution<\/a><\/span>: What is the solution, and can it be implemented? He stressed that work on this initiative will move ahead quickly.<\/p>\n

Eide said this new effort is built on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, \u201cbut updated to today\u2019s reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2002 initiative, endorsed by the Arab League and the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, offered Israel normalized relations in exchange for a full withdrawal from territories captured in 1967.<\/p>\n

He said efforts started long ago to build the institutions of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult,\u201d Eide said. \u201cTheir hands are tied in many ways. We\u2019re seeing an increasing amount of illegal settlements and settle violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut still, there is an embryonic institution there that we have to strengthen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Eide said he chaired a meeting Thursday of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee for the Building of Palestinian Institutions, with the United States, Canada, the EU and many Mideast and European countries contributing.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of these tools will solve the problem on their own, and we never pretended that, but we\u2019re trying to build a body of instruments that will take us forward to a peaceful settlement,\u201d Eide said. \u201cAnd I am convinced it will happen here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go to Original – apnews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

29 Sep 2024 – Norway\u2019s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said that \u201cthere is a growing consensus from Western and Arab countries, and from the Global South, that we need to establish a Palestinian Authority, Government and State, which has to be recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":227192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1669,2846,322,427,2497,124],"class_list":["post-275997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide","tag-arabs","tag-global-south","tag-norway","tag-palestine","tag-palestinians","tag-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275998,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275997\/revisions\/275998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}