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Palestinian President Says Ready to Resume Peace Talks

Spain's Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya speaks during a news conference with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. AFP
Spain's Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya speaks during a news conference with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. AFP
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Palestinian President Says Ready to Resume Peace Talks

Spain's Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya speaks during a news conference with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. AFP
Spain's Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya speaks during a news conference with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. AFP

Palestinians are ready to resume peace negotiations with Israel, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday.

During his meeting with Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez, Abbas stressed that negotiations should be based on “international resolutions” and mediated by the Quartet (the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States).

Gonzalez conveyed a letter from Spain’s Prime Minister in which he affirmed the distinguished bilateral relations and his country's keenness to bolster them.

The premier also noted Spain’s steadfast support to the political process based on the principle of the two-state solution.

Abbas hailed Spain’s stances that come in line with the international law and the EU resolutions that support achieving peace based on international legitimacy decisions.

Gonzalez reiterated her country’s position in support of peace on the principle of the two-state solution and international law, noting that Spain will continue to back the Palestinian people to build the institutions of the Palestinian state.

At a press conference following her meeting with her Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Gonzalez said Palestine will always be present on the list of countries that will receive the COVID-19 vaccine once developed and proven effective.

Both sides discussed the memorandum of understanding signed via videoconference in October, which defines bilateral development cooperation at a value of 100 million euros for the years 2020-2024.

She told reporters that Spain has decided to provide $5 million in urgent aid to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to continue its services to Palestinian refugees in education and public health.

Separately, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Shtayyeh urged Finland to break the status quo by recognizing the state of Palestine and preserve the two-state solution.

He pointed during his meeting with Finnish representative to the PA Paivi Peltokoski to the ongoing Israeli violations and settlement expansion.

The Premier stressed the efforts exerted to hold an international peace conference and find a fair and comprehensive solution for the Palestinian cause, in accordance with the international legitimacy.

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Arab World

Red Cross Urges Unhindered Aid Access to Flood-hit and Freezing Gaza

Paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society protest over the deaths of their colleagues in the war between Israel and Hamas on February 11, 2024. Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images
Paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society protest over the deaths of their colleagues in the war between Israel and Hamas on February 11, 2024. Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images
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Red Cross Urges Unhindered Aid Access to Flood-hit and Freezing Gaza

Paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society protest over the deaths of their colleagues in the war between Israel and Hamas on February 11, 2024. Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images
Paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society protest over the deaths of their colleagues in the war between Israel and Hamas on February 11, 2024. Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images

The Red Cross called Wednesday for safe and unhindered access to Gaza to bring desperately needed aid into the war-torn Palestinian territory wracked by hunger and where babies are freezing to death.

Heavy rain and flooding have ravaged the makeshift shelters in Gaza, leaving thousands with up to 30 centimetres (one foot) of water inside their damaged tents, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

The dire weather conditions were "exacerbating the unbearable conditions" in Gaza, it said, pointing out that many families were left "clinging on to survival in makeshift camps, without even the most basic necessities, such as blankets".

Citing the United Nations, the IFRC highlighted the deaths of eight newborn babies who had been living in tents without warmth or protection from the rain and falling temperatures, AFP reported.

Those deaths "underscore the critical severity of the humanitarian crisis there", IFRC Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain said in a statement.

"I urgently reiterate my call to grant safe and unhindered access to humanitarians to let them provide life-saving assistance," he said.

"Without safe access -- children will freeze to death. Without safe access -- families will starve. Without safe access -- humanitarian workers can't save lives."

According to a UN count, more than 330 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since Israel unleashed its war there.

Chapagain issued an "urgent plea to all the parties... to put an end to this human suffering. Now".

The IFRC said the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) was striving to provide emergency health services and supplies to people in Gaza, with an extra sense of urgency during the cold winter months.

But it warned that "the lack of aid deliveries and access is making providing adequate support all but impossible".

The IFRC stressed that the closure of the main Rafah border crossing last May had had a dramatic impact on the humanitarian situation.

"Only a trickle of aid is currently entering Gaza," it warned.

It also lamented the "continuing attacks on health facilities across the Gaza Strip", which it said meant people were unable to access the treatment they need.

"In the north of Gaza, there are now no functioning hospitals," it said.

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity warned that access to healthcare had also become "seriously compromised" in parts of the West Bank. It was seeing "a dramatic decline in children's mental health", it added.

It pointed in a statement to the drastic increase in restrictions imposed by Israeli forces since the start of the war in Gaza. In particular, it highlighted the situation in the Jaber neighbourhood inside the H2 area of Hebron City, which is under full Israeli military control.

MSF, which said it had been forced to suspend its operations for five months from December 2023, urged Israeli forces to "stop implementing restrictive measures that impede the ability of Palestinians to access basic services, including medical care".

MSF project coordinator Chloe Janssen warned that "although we are now able to provide care in the MSF clinic in Jaber neighbourhood, access remains challenging as our staff can be searched and delayed at the checkpoints to enter the H2 area.

"Access to medical care should never be arbitrarily denied, impeded or blocked."