Brussels, 28/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - Norway's Foreign Minister Borge Brende, who is currently chairing the ad hoc liaison committee (the group coordinating the donors for the people of Palestine), has said he hopes that the peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians will resume in the autumn. “I hope in the course of the fall we will see the talks be relaunched”, he told media, including EUROPE, at the end of the donors' meeting in Brussels.
Brende said he felt able to make this comment following the donors' meeting and after meeting Palestine's President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week. He said it was more urgent than ever to resume the discussions for a two-state solution, and added that it was necessary “clearly to have the resolve of both sides in taking this political initiative”. He said the donors had underlined that it was urgent to take steps to rebuild trust and to help create the conditions needed for resumption of the negotiations.
Brende also said that, as long as there is progress in the political process, the donors will continue to help financially.
Doing more for Gaza. “We must do more for the reconstruction and development of Gaza”, Brende stated, adding that what was pledged at the Cairo donors' conference in October 2014 should be implemented. Currently 27% of the donations pledged for the reconstruction of Gaza have been paid - in other words $951 million of the $3.5 billion pledged. “We must see a real reconstruction of Gaza”, he said. Although, in Brende's view, the import mechanism for materials is working, the scale of reconstruction is still not enough.
European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said he believed that “despite the generous commitments in Cairo in October, the international community is too slow in releasing these funds”. He stated that the EU had already committed 83% of the €275 million pledged and 60% of that has already been given. However, Hahn also said that “no economic package, however large, could be a success without a political outlook”.
Elsewhere, the special envoy for the Middle East Quartet, Tony Blair, resigned on 27 May after being appointed in June 2007. His resignation becomes effective in June. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)