عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Interviews

Maliki to Asharq Al-Awsat: There is No Alternative But to Win The Jerusalem Battle

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki (left) with his Italian counterpart in Rome on Thursday as part of his European tour (EPA).
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki (left) with his Italian counterpart in Rome on Thursday as part of his European tour (EPA).
TT
TT

Maliki to Asharq Al-Awsat: There is No Alternative But to Win The Jerusalem Battle

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki (left) with his Italian counterpart in Rome on Thursday as part of his European tour (EPA).
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki (left) with his Italian counterpart in Rome on Thursday as part of his European tour (EPA).

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki expressed his confidence in the ability of the Palestinians to overcome the existing disputes over postponing the legislative elections.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Maliki noted that this issue has “hastened the launch of the battle of Jerusalem,” emphasizing its “priority with regard to all Palestinian factions.”

The minister, who visited Moscow as part of a European tour, pointed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ proposal to form a government of national unity, saying: “All factions agree that Jerusalem is a red line... But it is important to deal with the situation in good faith and work to unify the Palestinian house in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and to protect Jerusalem, where Israel exploits our division to escalate its violations.”

Maliki continued: “We can overcome all the existing problems by forming a government of national unity. Not all factions… will converge on the same position, and some may go far to exploit the situation to question the leadership and its legitimacy. There are other parties, such as Hamas, which proved their eagerness to end the division during the Istanbul and Cairo meetings.”

While the Palestinian foreign minister emphasized the willingness of Fatah and Hamas to work towards unity, he noted that the two sides did not have enough time to expand the understandings.

“They preferred to go towards the shortest path, which is holding the elections, before completing the adequate preparations. Here, many pitfalls emerged, especially the issue of Jerusalem,” Maliki told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Asked about his European tour and Moscow discussions, the Palestinian foreign minister said that a number of issues were on the agenda, underlining the importance of communication with Russia, especially with regards to Israel’s violations.

“We are counting on Moscow to pressure the Israeli side to stop these ongoing violations, as well as to compel Tel Aviv to abide by the signed agreements that guarantee the holding of Palestinian elections on all territories, including those under Area C, which comprise Jerusalem,” Maliki said.

He continued: “We also rely on a Russian role to influence Israel in the course of advancing the political process, and we support the Russian efforts within the framework of reviving the work of the International Quartet and the invitation made by Minister Sergei Lavrov to hold a meeting of the international group at the ministerial level.”

On whether he was optimistic about efforts to revive the international quartet, Maliki noted a change in the US position after US President Joe Biden assumed office. He said that the quartet held two meetings at the delegates’ level, including one upon an American request.

“Now Lavrov is talking about calling for a meeting at the ministerial level, and this is important. Maturing ideas and restoring confidence between the parties is required. For us, there is no alternative to this framework, because it is the official context adopted within UN Security Council Resolution 1515,” the minister remarked.

Asked whether there was a clear Palestinian plan to pressure Israel at the international level, Maliki said: “The moment the international community is able to oblige Israel to implement its pledges, we will move immediately to set a new date for the elections.”

“We are not trying to evade the elections. In fact, it was President Abbas who launched the idea before the United Nations General Assembly in 2017… At the same time, we have a second option to adress the situation, which President Abbas expressed by calling for the formation of a national unity government based on the principles of the Palestinian Liberation Organization,” he stated.

Maliki explained that the proposed national unity government would work on two tracks. First, strengthening the Palestinian movement and ensuring the mobilization of a supportive international position to escalate pressure on Israel on elections, and second, working to dismantle the foundations of the Palestinian division, its institutions, and its elements.

“Such a national framework will have the ingredients for success in both tracks,” he emphasized.

Most Viewed

 
 
Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
TT
TT

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.