Germany: Two-State Solution Key to Palestinian-Israeli Peace

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (L) meets with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi on June 9, 2019 in Amman. (AFP)
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (L) meets with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi on June 9, 2019 in Amman. (AFP)
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Germany: Two-State Solution Key to Palestinian-Israeli Peace

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (L) meets with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi on June 9, 2019 in Amman. (AFP)
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (L) meets with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi on June 9, 2019 in Amman. (AFP)

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Sunday reaffirmed his country's support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict ahead of a long-awaited US peace plan.

"We are still in agreement that reaching a two-state solution through negotiations is the only solution," he told a press conference in Amman with his Jordanian counterpart.

"We and Germany agree that the two-state solution is the only way to end the conflict," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.

Washington is gearing up to roll out economic aspects of its plan at a conference in Bahrain later this month, but it is not yet clear when its political details will be unveiled.

The Palestinians have already rejected the deal, citing a string of moves by US President Donald Trump they say show his administration is irredeemably biased.

Maas and Safadi met a day after US ambassador to Israel David Friedman was quoted by the New York Times as saying Israel had the "right" to annex at least parts of the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian leaders said the US envoy's comments showed "extremists" were involved in White House policy on the issue.

Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War and its construction of settlements there is viewed as a major stumbling block to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Friedman has in the past been a supporter of Israeli settlements as has the family of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser leading efforts to put together the peace deal.

Kushner has hinted that it will not endorse international calls for the creation of a Palestinian state.

Several UN resolutions have enshrined the two-state solution, which envisages separate homelands for Jews and Palestinians, as the path to a peace settlement.

Both ministers also stressed the importance of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, just weeks after the US called for it to be dismantled after cutting its roughly $300 million annual donation.

Jordan is home to nearly 2.2 million Palestinian refugees, who make up almost half of the kingdom's population.



Internet Restored in Gaza after 3 Days

Palestinians raise their phones as they try to catch an internet signal in Gaza City. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
Palestinians raise their phones as they try to catch an internet signal in Gaza City. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
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Internet Restored in Gaza after 3 Days

Palestinians raise their phones as they try to catch an internet signal in Gaza City. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
Palestinians raise their phones as they try to catch an internet signal in Gaza City. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP

Internet is back up in the war-battered Gaza Strip, the head of the Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority told AFP on Saturday, after a three-day blackout blamed on Israel's military.

"The network is up now in all of the Gaza Strip," said the regulatory body's CEO Laith Daraghmeh.

The Palestinian Authority's telecommunications ministry reported on Thursday that internet and fixed-line communications were down after Israeli forces targeted a fiber optic cable, a claim Israel has not commented on.

The ministry said that its maintenance and repair teams had at first been unable to safely access the sites where the damage occurred.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Thursday that the internet outage hindered its operations by impeding communication with first responders in the field, also blaming Israel for the blackout.

Now in its 21st month, the war in Gaza has caused massive damage to infrastructure including water mains, power lines and roads across the Palestinian territory.