BARCELONA
\nArab states and the European Union agreed at a meeting in Spain on Monday that a two-state solution was the answer to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell saying the Palestinian Authority should rule Gaza.
\nBorrell said all EU members attending the meeting of Mediterranean nations in Barcelona and almost all attendees had agreed on the need for a two-state solution.
\nThe Palestinian Authority (PA) must hold elections as soon as possible to gain further legitimacy and improve its functioning, as the only \u201cviable solution\u201d to the future leadership of Gaza, currently run by Hamas, he said.
\n\u201cI believe it is the only viable solution, but it will be viable if the international community backs it. Otherwise, we will see a power vacuum that will be fertile ground for all sorts of violent organisations,\u201d Borrell said at a press conference.
\nAn initial four-day truce has been extended by two days, mediator Qatar said, in the first halt in fighting in the seven weeks since the Hamas raid on Oct 7.
\nSome 14,800 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombing of Gaza and hundreds of thousands displaced.
\nJordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said any talk of administration of Gaza after the conflict should focus on the West Bank and Gaza as one entity and that the Palestinian people should decide who rules them.
\nA two-state solution envisages a state for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip alongside Israel.
\nPalestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al Maliki said the PA, which lost control of Gaza Strip in a 2007 power struggle with Hamas, had no need to return to Gaza, adding: \u201cWe have been there all the time, we have 60,000 public workers there.\u201d
\nThey were speaking at the conclusion of a meeting of the Forum for the Union of the Mediterranean in Barcelona, a 43-member grouping of European, North African and Middle Eastern countries. Israel did not attend the summit.
\nSaudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan spoke as a representative of a group of ministers from the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
\n\u201cWe delivered our message, it\u2019s important that we have a ceasefire immediately, that we build on the current truce that is in place,\u201d he told reporters after the conference.
\nGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the absence of Israel due to apparent concern over \u201cone-sided hostility\u201d underscored \u201cdeep rifts\u201d.
\n\u201cThat is precisely why I am here today, even though these meetings were not previously given a high profile by Germany. Precisely because the rifts are getting deeper, we have to sit together, we have to talk and hear each other out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BARCELONA Arab states and the European Union agreed at a meeting in Spain on Monday that a two-state solution was the answer to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell saying the Palestinian Authority should rule Gaza. Borrell said all EU members attending the meeting of Mediterranean nations in Barcelona and almost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-370949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n