US opens to Palestinian state EU: stop settler violence
Declaration with Arab states at UN to push for go-ahead for phase 2 in Gaza. EU ready to train 3,000 policemen in the Strip. Indonesia prepares soldiers
It is a joint statement by the United States, Egypt, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan and Turkey that explicitly presents the creation of a Palestinian state as a possible outcome of the peace plan brokered by President Trump for the future of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories.
The phrase, which presents the agreement as 'a path to the creation of a Palestinian state', represents a novelty for the US administration and is described by the Times of Israel as a remarkable change of tone on Washington's part. "Trump has stated publicly in recent weeks," writes the Israeli newspaper, "that he has not yet decided whether to support a two-state solution. Israel, for its part, is strongly opposed to it'. The news follows a few hours after Moscow's statements on a draft submitted to the UN on Gaza, in which Russia reiterates its "commitment to the vision of a two-state solution" that "live side by side in peace" and in this context "stresses the importance of the unity and territorial integrity of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority".
In the meantime, American efforts to advance the steps of the agreement continue. As reported by the New York Times, special envoy Steve Witkoff is reportedly planning a meeting with the chief Hamas negotiator.
After the repeated violence suffered by Palestinians in the West Bank, on the day when worshippers return to pray in the recently attacked mosque of Deir Istiya, it is the European Union that calls on Israel to take urgent action to prevent the violence and punish those responsible. During the daily press briefing, Anouar El Anouni, spokesperson for the EU External Action Service, gave a clear message about the necessary action: "Settlement construction, including the approval of the E1 settlement plan, settler violence, demolitions, forced relocations, evictions and confiscations of Palestinian homes must stop". But High Representative Kaja Kallas' team is also working on a concrete project in the territories. As part of the peace plan brokered by Donald Trump, the EU is considering "taking the lead in the training of Palestinian security forces in Gaza, providing training and direct assistance to about 3,000 agents paid by the Palestinian National Authority, with the aim of creating a total force of 13,000," European officials explain. Interventions that aim to strengthen the fragile truce reached in October, but daily violated. Indonesia has also moved in the direction of an international stabilisation force. Yesterday, the defence minister stated that the Indonesian president had ordered the Indonesian armed forces to prepare 20,000 soldiers to be deployed in the enclave.
On the front of the occupied territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it is the United Nations that takes dramatic stock. In just over two years, Israeli settlers have killed at least 1,017 Palestinians and last October they carried out more than 260 attacks, making it the month with more violence than any other since 2006.
