US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and several Arab leaders are also participating in the meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), where the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip will be a central topic.
– We now have the key players here in Riyadh and hope the talks will lead to a process that can lead to reconciliation and peace, says WEF’s president, former foreign minister Børge Brende.
According to Brende, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will give information about the talks Egyptian negotiators had in Israel on Friday, in an attempt to reach an agreement on a prisoner exchange and ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Two-state solution
– There is now a certain momentum when it comes to negotiations on hostages and a ceasefire, says Brende.
The meeting in Riyadh will also discuss the way forward towards a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine and the recognition of a Palestinian state, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated before Espen Barth Eide got on the plane.
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– It is crucially important to think about what should happen in the slightly longer term, and how we can progress in the work for a Palestinian state. Because only a two-state solution is a real solution to this, says Eide in a comment to NTB.
– Without any idea of where to go next, agreement on a ceasefire can also be difficult, he says.
Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya said this week that it is willing to enter into at least a five-year ceasefire with Israel and lay down its arms if Israeli forces withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and the Palestinians get their own state within the pre-1967 borders. .
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The condition is that Israel recognizes Palestinian refugees’ right to return, in line with international resolutions, Hayya said in an interview with AP.
Recognition
According to Foreign Minister Eide, the closest they have come to a comprehensive peace plan is the draft Arab countries are now working on.
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– It is important that we support this. It is simply better to have one plan than no plan at all, says Eide.
– We don’t want a “Hamas state”, but one Palestinian state that is politically connected, that springs from the Palestinian Authority, he says.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs has previously said that it is imminent that Norway will recognize Palestine as its own state, perhaps already during the spring.
– Norway has been clear that we will recognize Palestine when the context is right. That is precisely the connection we are now working to create. Recognition of Palestine is not an end in itself, but a tool we can use once, he says.
Truce
On the night of Saturday, Hamas stated that it had received Israel’s latest proposal for a cease-fire.
Israel is threatening a ground invasion in Rafah, where over 1.1 million internally displaced Palestinians have sought refuge, if Hamas does not agree to an agreement that involves the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza.
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A number of draft ceasefires from both parties have previously been on the table, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains that Hamas must be crushed once and for all.
Nevertheless, Eide maintains that peace must be anchored in the Middle East by the Middle East.
– We no longer live in a world where a Western country can enter a conflict and “make peace” as it was to some extent right after the end of the Cold War. Peace in the Middle East must also be anchored in the region. That is exactly why I want to do it this way.
