Phone call between President Abbas and the President of the European Council

A phone call took place between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and European Council President António Costa.

During the call, the latest developments in the Palestinian territories were discussed, as well as ways to stop the war and urgently deliver aid to the Gaza Strip.

President Abbas outlined to the European official the Palestinian leadership's priorities: a ceasefire, ensuring the flow of humanitarian aid, supporting the Palestinian government's efforts to assume its civil and security duties in the Gaza Strip, a full Israeli withdrawal, an end to the ongoing, serious attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by the occupation authorities and settler terrorism, and the release of withheld Palestinian funds.

President Abbas stressed the importance of the efforts made with our Arab brothers and the relevant international parties in the global coalition to hold the international peace conference scheduled to be held in New York next June, to garner recognition of the State of Palestine and its full membership in the United Nations, paving the way for a political process that ends the Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital. He stressed the importance of European support for this international conference, which is consistent with the policies announced by the European Union and is in line with international legitimacy resolutions and international law.

The President said: We highly appreciate the European Union's firm positions on supporting the two-state solution, settlements, stopping the war, and allowing aid into the country. We thank it for the assistance it provides to support the Palestinian government's reform program, as well as the humanitarian aid to Gaza, which reflects the strength of the friendly relations and true partnership between the State of Palestine and the European Union countries. We hope that this will be crowned with more recognition for European and other countries, as well as mobilizing international support to build the institutions of the Palestinian state, support reform and development programs, and strengthen partnership relations with the European Union by starting official negotiations on a full partnership agreement with Palestine.