WEST BANK: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle warns against unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood

Record ID: 560616

  • Title: WEST BANK: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle warns against unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood
  • Date: 15th June 2011
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (JUNE 14, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER GUIDO WESTERWELLE ARRIVING AT PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTERS OFFICE WESTERWELLE AND PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER SALAM FAYYAD SAT IN OFFICE FAYYAD AND WESTERWELLE SHAKING HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER SALAM FAYYAD SAYING: "Mr Westerwelle, Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister of Germany on his visit here with us in Palestine, it's good to have you again. We just had a round discussion on issues of a great deal of significance, ranging from the latest developments in the political process but also related to where we stand in our effort to get ready for statehood, the progress that we were able to make a great deal of assistance, generous assistance that we have received from our friends in the international community, from most of the European Union and certainly from Germany, an opportunity for me to thank Mr Westerwelle for that assistance. We recently, as some of you may know, concluded a protocol on bilateral relationships in Berlin recently for this year through the continuation of the generous support we have received covering important areas of activity, governance and infrastructure, water, waste water, education and health. Areas of typical interest for a very generous programme with assistance by Germany which totalled since the inception of the Palestinian Authority about 1.1 billion dollars, so that is definitely substantial. We talked about the political process in terms of what is required to get it moving in a way that would help bring about an end to the Israeli occupation and enable us to be able to live as free people in a country of our own on territory occupied in 1967." WIDE OF WESTERWELLE AND FAYYAD
  • Embargoed: 30th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank, West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4NEE8USSB6863NXKCJ1EDLWYH
  • Story Text: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, during a visit to Ramallah, warned the Palestinian Authority against any unilateral declaration of statehood, saying that any steps towards this decision would be counter productive for peace in the Middle East.
    Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad thanked Germany on Tuesday (June 14) for its continued support in areas ranging from local government to education, adding they had discussed the requirements needed to restart the political process and end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
    "Mr Westerwelle, Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister of Germany on his visit here with us in Palestine, it's good to have you again. We just had a round discussion on issues of a great deal of significance, ranging from the latest developments in the political process but also related to where we stand in our effort to get ready for statehood, the progress that we were able to make a great deal of assistance, generous assistance that we have received from our friends in the international community, from most of the European Union and certainly from Germany, an opportunity for me to thank Mr Westerwelle for that assistance. We recently, as some of you may know, concluded a protocol on bilateral relationships in Berlin recently for this year through the continuation of the generous support we have received covering important areas of activity, governance and infrastructure, water, waste water, education and health. Areas of typical interest for a very generous programme with assistance by Germany which totalled since the inception of the Palestinian Authority about 1.1 billion dollars, so that is definitely substantial. We talked about the political process in terms of what is required to get it moving in a way that would help bring about an end to the Israeli occupation and enable us to be able to live as free people in a country of our own on territory occupied in 1967," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said.
    The Palestinian Authority is looking to the United Nations General Assembly member states, in September, to recognise their bid for statehood on land occupied since 1967. A move that Israel is looking to block.
    The German Foreign Minister said that negotiation with Israel was the right way to secure a lasting peace within the region.
    "Mr Fayyad, first of all I would like to express our gratitude for your hospitality, it's not the first time we are guests in Ramallah and thank you so much for the hospitality and for this very interesting discussion we had. We could exchange our ideas in many fields and I would like to add what you said, Germany supports the two-state solution and this means that we support the Palestinian people to build their own independent Palestinian state. We think that the two-state solution is the best guarantee for all parties to live in peace and security and therefore we do not discuss this only in theory, we discussed practical steps how we can support the Palestinian people to build a Palestinian state and this is our engagement, we will continue this engagement, for us it is absolutely clear that the Palestinian state means that all territories of the Palestinian people belong to this state, so it is of course also remarkable that in the same time when I am sitting here and discussing with Prime Minister Fayyad, our minister for economic development is now in Gaza and this is also a gesture, this demonstrates that we want to have a peaceful Middle East process and therefore we think a two-state solution is decisive and crucial. We discussed of course the situation coming up in September and for the rest of this year. The German government thinks that unilateral steps could be very counter-productive, this is our opinion and I underline this opinion in the name of the German government once again, because we think negotiation should be the right way, come back to the dialogue is our advice to all parties and this is the way how we tried to support in a very difficult time, in a complicated situation the Middle East process," Westerwelle said.
    The Palestinians currently have the status of U.N. observers without voting rights but are hoping that at September's General Assembly they can persuade the majority of nations to accept them as a sovereign member thus opening the way for full recognition as a state, by the U.N. Security Council.
    Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas walked out of U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel shortly after they began last September, after Israel resumed building Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
    Israel says that negotiations are the only way for the Palestinians to achieve their goal of nationhood.
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