Palestinian PM Calls for Int’l Support To Safeguard 2-State Solution

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has urgently requested international assistance to protect the two-state solution from what he calls “Israel’s sabotage.” Shtayyeh voiced these concerns during a meeting with the European Union’s special representative for the Middle East peace process, Sven Koopmans, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Shtayyeh claimed the Israeli government was working to undermine the Palestinian Authority, hampering the establishment of a Palestinian state. He accused Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government of disrupting the two-state solution by promoting Israeli settlements, seizing land, and controlling crossings and natural resources.

Koopmans updated Shtayyeh on his efforts to rejuvenate the Arab Peace Initiative for a lasting solution involving global parties. The initiative, launched in 2002, calls for normalizing relations with Israel following its withdrawal from Arab and Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.

Commending the “constructive” efforts led by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to revitalize the stalled peace process, Shtayyeh reaffirmed the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to “peace and justice,” pushing for the creation of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.