If a Palestinian state emerges, it will be a pluralistic state, with a place for women, and adherence to international law, including the security of Israel, the Palestinian foreign minister has claimed in an exclusive interview with Euronews.
”It would be a pluralistic society. There will be a place for women. I’m a woman, and I’m Minister of Foreign Affairs, and I am Christian, and from Armenian origins,” said Varsen Aghabekian-Shaheen.
She said it would be a place where there is respect for “international law” and respect for “any agreement signed by Palestine with its neighbours”.
Meanwhile she criticised EU inaction over Israel’s war in Gaza and violence in the West Bank as “shocking and disappointing”.
The “whole world is watching children brutally murdered while awaiting medical care in tents, and people being killed while queuing for basic food supplies”, said Aghabekian-Shahin.
“We see children brutally murdered while in tents while awaiting medical care from another tent,” the foreign minister claimed.
The war in Gaza started in response to the Hamas terror attack on October 7th.
Aghabekian-Shahin believes there is still hope for a contiguous, Palestinian state, with the Palestinian Authority (PA) in control of both Gaza and the West Bank.
Corruption within the Palestinian Authority acknowledged
The PA’s first female foreign minister said years of corruption within the PA, and also the Palestinian Liberation Authority (PLA) – the national coalition which is the legally recognised representative of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza – is in the process of being rooted out.
And there is also the question of credibility and influence. While some Palestinians continue to support Hamas, demonstrations against Hamas continue apace, and confidence in the performance of the Palestinian Authority is declining, according to the Palestinian Policy and Survey research centre.
“It’s not an excuse, but corruption is everywhere. And remember, we are under occupation, and occupation corrupts,” said Aghabekian-Shahin.
”Funding from outside corrupts, not being able to direct your organisations the way you want corrupts,” she said.
”That is not an excuse. But today we have a reform and development agenda by this government in Palestine. And we’re working on all aspects to curtail corruption, to decrease nepotism, to ensure that our organisations are governed by rules and regulations applicable to all,” she said, adding: “This takes time.”
The realisation of a Palestinian state is as remote a possibility as ever given the violence and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as well as sustained violence against, and expulsion of Palestinians in the West Bank.
In addition, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has indicated his country no longer supports the internationally agreed-upon two-state solution, and believes Israel is entitled to formally occupy the lands in the West Bank due to its historical, biblical links.
Huckabee said any potential Palestinian state could be forged out of an existing Muslim country rather than the lands designated by several UN resolutions for a future Palestinian state – namely, the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
Neighboring Arab countries have however indicated they would not take in millions of Palestinians and continue to advocate for a two-state solution. Jordan, Lebanon and to a lesser extent, Egypt and Syria, are already home to large populations of Palestinians refugees from the 1948 and 1967 wars with Israel.
“We keep the hope alive because we are two-staters and we believe that that two-state solution is the only viable solution,” she told Euronews.
Minister Aghabekian -hahin believes a Palestinian state will materialise, and Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia will be crucial in pushing for it.
She said Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries will pause plans to normalise relations with Israel unless the Jewish State negotiates a state for Palestinians.
Saudi Arabia was close to formally normalising relations with Israel days before Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th.
“When President Trump said about his intention to create the Riviera, there was very quick response from all Arab states, individually and collectively, on the no displacement issue of Palestinians,” she said.
Last February, in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump said he would “take over” and “own” Gaza, and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
Saudi Arabia and France are co-chairing an international conference on a two-state solution in New York on the 28 and 29 of July at ministerial level.
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