Hassan Al-Warfalli (Gaza, Cairo)
Yesterday, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Albarez called for the launch of a joint Arab-European initiative to hold an international peace conference in the Middle East in Madrid attended by leaders from both sides to recognize the State of Palestine and obtain full membership in the United Nations.
This came in a speech delivered by Albaris before the Council of the League of Arab States at the level of permanent delegates, in the presence of the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, during which he called for the establishment of a Palestinian state that would provide it with protection and the launch of an Arab-European initiative to achieve sustainable peace.
Albarez said that this Spanish vision will be presented to the European summit this March, expressing his hope that the next Arab summit in Bahrain next May will follow the example of the European side in this regard.
He added: “The time has come to launch a joint European-Arab initiative to hold an international peace conference as soon as possible in Spain so that the Palestinian state is recognized.”
Meanwhile, Cairo received some American ideas and visions that could contribute to reaching a humanitarian truce agreement for a period of 6 weeks, during which a prisoner exchange deal will be completed between the Palestinian factions in Gaza and the Israeli side, according to what an informed source confirmed to Al-Ittihad. The source indicated that the Palestinian factions are adhering to their position of refusing to achieve a temporary truce and requiring a complete and comprehensive ceasefire, in order to conclude a deal to exchange prisoners, double the number of trucks carrying humanitarian aid, and accelerate their entry into Gaza. The source explained that the American side believes in its new vision that reaching a humanitarian truce in Gaza could be a major impetus for ending the war during the coming period, stressing that Washington refuses to exert more pressure on the Israeli government during this period, and seeks to convince it of the necessity of not launching a military operation in Palestinian Rafah in the coming weeks.
In another context, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, yesterday, assigned Economic Advisor Muhammad Mustafa to form the 19th government, according to what the Palestinian News Agency “Wafa” reported.
Muhammad Mustafa (69 years old) is a politically independent economist. He was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy in the National Accord Government that was formed in 2014. He remained in the position for one year, and played a major role in launching the Gaza Strip reconstruction program in 2014.
Muhammad Mustafa served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Palestine Investment Fund, and has international experience after working at the World Bank in Washington for 15 years.
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