German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, stressed the achievement of the goal of a political solution to the conflict in the Middle East, while the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his readiness to negotiate with the Israeli side on the basis of a two-state solution, pointing out that the US administration does not help achieve peace and security in the Middle East .
Merkel said yesterday, before talks with Abbas in the German capital Berlin, that this solution should lead to the Palestinian and Israeli peoples to live in peace and security.
Merkel stressed that this can only be achieved through a two-state solution agreed between the parties to the conflict, "even if it turns out that this goal is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve." She added that the Palestinians have the right to a good social and economic life, pointing out that it is necessary to have a future horizon for economic development in order to achieve this.
Germany was the largest bilateral donor in the Palestinian territories, totaling 110 million euros, last year, Merkel said.
For his part, Abbas said that there is a willingness to sit at the negotiating table to reach a two-state solution within the 1967 borders, and stressed that the Palestinians praise Merkel's efforts to achieve multilateral cooperation, away from unilateral solutions, in order to provide stability and peace in the world.
Abbas expressed regret that the US government is not cooperating in achieving peace and security in the region by excluding topics from negotiations such as the status of Jerusalem, refugees, borders and settlement building. "This is why we are asking for negotiations under international supervision," Abbas said, as part of a Middle East quartet of European and Arab states accompanying negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel.
Abbas called on all European countries that believe in a two-state solution, recognized Israel and have not yet recognized the state of Palestine, because it would give hope and lay the foundations of justice, support the right of peoples to self-determination, and end the Israeli occupation, the longest occupation in contemporary history. Abbas stressed that the recognition of the State of Palestine does not contradict the negotiations.
On the level of internal reconciliation, the President of the Palestinian Authority said: «We will continue to seek the unity of our land and our people and achieve reconciliation, and go to free and fair general elections».
On the other hand, the Republic of Nauru plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem. Nauru is a nation that spans a number of small islands in the South Pacific, with a population of only 10,000, but is a member of the United Nations and has a voice in the General Assembly like any other country in the world.