After his visit on Tuesday to the Israeli kibbutz victim of the Hamas attack on October 7, Xavier Bettel went to Palestine on Wednesday. This time, the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs was able to visit an Amari refugee camp and medical infrastructures.
The opportunity for an interview with the Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, during which the minister reaffirmed support of Luxembourg.
“UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response to the current crisis in the Gaza Strip, and plays an essential role in providing necessary humanitarian services to the populations in the Gaza Strip,” said Xavier. Bettel.
The importance of holding democratic elections in Palestine
The minister then traveled to Ramallah for bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Riad al-Malki. Xavier Bettel was also able to meet other personalities from Palestinian society, such as Mustafa Barghouti, President of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, and Hanan Ashrawi, former Palestinian minister and the only woman to date to have been a member of the Executive Committee of the ‘PLO.
These various meetings were an opportunity to discuss in depth the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Concerning the situation in Gaza, the head of Luxembourg diplomacy highlighted the absolute necessity of an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Furthermore, Minister Bettel also underlined the importance of “organizing democratic elections in Palestine in a timely manner”.
Finally, he reiterated Luxembourg’s attachment to the two-state solution, “the only way to guarantee a lasting and just peace”. In this regard, the minister condemned the settlement policy carried out by the Israeli government, “one of the main obstacles to the two-state solution”.
This article is originally published on virgule.lu
