Qatar reaffirms support for Palestinian statehood

Qatar Friday participated in the meeting of the Arab-Islamic Ministerial committee tasked with international efforts to stop the war on Gaza and several European ministers and officials, with Spanish Prime Minister Dr Pedro Sanchez. The meeting, hosted in Madrid, was on Palestine and implementing the two-state solution.

Qatar was represented by HE the Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh al-Khulaifi.

In his address to the meeting, HE Dr al-Khulaifi reaffirmed Qatar's steadfast and ongoing support for the Palestinian cause and the resilience of the Palestinian people, based on international legitimacy and the two-state solution to ensure the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He also emphasised that Qatar continues its efforts with international partners to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which would alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people, secure the release of detainees and prisoners, and pave the way for comprehensive peace and lasting stability in the region.

Reurtes adds: "We meet to make another push for the end of the war in Gaza, for a way out of the unending spiral of violence between the Palestinians, the Israelis... That way is clear. The implementation of the two-state solution is the only way," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters.

In attendance were his counterparts including from Norway and Slovenia, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and members of the Arab-Islamic Contact Group for Gaza that includes Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkiye.

Albares said there was "a clear willingness" among the participants, who notably do not include Israel, "to move on from words to actions and to make strides towards a clear schedule for the effective implementation" of a two-state solution, starting with Palestine joining the United Nations.

On May 28, Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognised a unified Palestinian state ruled by the Palestinian Authority comprising the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital. With them, 146 of the 193 member states of the United Nations now recognise Palestinian statehood.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has repeatedly described the co-existence of two sovereign states on the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine as the only viable path to peace in the region.

Such a two-state solution was set out in the 1991 Madrid Conference and the 1993-95 Oslo Accords, but the peace process has been moribund for years.