PA President Mahmoud Abbas met with Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lajbib in Ramallah.
In Israel, Lahbib met with her Israeli counterpart Israel Katz. “We agree on the objectives, but not on the means,” she said about the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Palestinian Authority is ready to take part in a preparatory peace conference to be organized in Belgium, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday during a meeting in Ramallah with Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib.
Belgium, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, said it was willing to host such a conference if progress could be made.
The Belgian minister made a two-day working visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“The President of the Palestinian Authority stressed the important role of the EU, while being aware of its divisions and Belgium’s role as a bridge-builder,” said Lahbib in a press briefing after the meeting, Belgian press agency Belga reported.
“But we must have a Palestinian Authority in working order”, she added.
A new Palestinian government will take office on Sunday. It will be led by Mohammad Mustafa, a longtime adviser to Abbas. He replaces Mohammed Shtayyeh, who, along with his government, resigned in February.
The new technical government will have to establish its authority.
Before meeting Abbas in Ramallah, the Belgian Foreign Minister was in Israel where she met her Israeli counterpart Israel Katz. After the meeting she declared: “We agree on the objectives, but not on the means”, describing diplomatic relations between Belgium and Israel as “frank, open and without taboos”.
Lahbib visited kibbutz Nir Oz and Sderot with minister Katz. She reiterated the Belgian position: an immediate ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages, more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and the resumption of dialogue towards a negotiated two-state solution.
Israel’s war against Hamas not against Islam, but against radical Islam. “You know this in Belgium too,” said Israel Katz, who made no secret of disagreements with Belgium’s diplomatic positions.
“It’s not just our fight, but that of the free world”, he said, pointing to Iran’s responsibility. Speaking to the press, Katz recalled the Israeli intentions in the military operation carried out since October against Hamas in Gaza is to bring back the hostages, but not only. “This is not just our fight, but that of the free world”, he said, pointing to Iran’s responsibility. Mr. Katz assured that Israel respected every human being and opened humanitarian corridors. He also spoke of the fate of the babies massacred on October 7.
Tensions rose when Katz said that Gaza was currently getting what it wanted in terms of aid. This prompted Minister Lahbib to step aside. When asked about the risk of famine in Gaza, the Israeli minister failed to respond. The interview was then interrupted, Hadja Lahbib also judging that this was not the place to raise the subject. ”This was not the place to make political statements,” reacted Hadja Lahbib, about the tense visit to Nir Oz. “Everyone is free to do what they want, but for me, this is a place of recollection. I came to hear the pain, to see how traumatized they are. It’s important to recognize the suffering of others”. But “one massacre cannot justify another massacre”, she added. “We agree on the objectives, but not on the means”.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz reiterated that Israel respected every human being and opened humanitarian corridors.
While in Nir Oz, the Israeli minister said: ”I hope that Belgium and the minister will understand that we cannot have a Palestinian state a few hundred meters from here because it will put all the people again in danger. We cannot allow that a situation like on October 7 happens again,” Katz said.
In the afternoon, Hadja Lahbib also met the director of the Association of Rape Crises Centers in Israel (ARCCI), Orith Solitzeanu, and gynecologist Dvora Bauman, from Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital, to discuss the sexual violence committed by Hamas on October 7.
The Israeli organization presented her with a report, published last week, according to which sexual violence was “systematic, premeditated and deliberate” on October 7. The report is based on eyewitness accounts, notably at the Nova festival. “Several cases described by witnesses mention rapes committed by several people, sometimes with third parties aiding, abetting or committing additional assaults, such as stabbing or firing a gun. The victims were subjected to a double attack: sexual and armed simultaneously”,says the report.
The Belgian Foreign Minister called for a “proper” international commission of inquiry into the sexual violence committed.
Yad Vashem visit
She later visited ad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center. Minister Lahbib toured the Holocaust History Museum, participated in a memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance, and visited the Children’s Memorial. Yad Vashem Chairman joined the Belgian Foreign Minister for the memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance.
At the end of the visit, Lahbib signed the Yad Vashem Guest Book and remarked:
“It is a moment of intense emotion for me to stand here and be at Yad Vashem. On behalf of my country, Belgium, I would like to pay tribute to all victims of the Shoah. The six million men, women and children who lost their lives in horrendous conditions, were deported, tortured and murdered for the sole reason that they were Jewish. The Holocaust is one of the darkest chapters of human history. We must remember these atrocities of the past so that such horrors never happen again. More than 80 years later, a sad reality imposes itself on us. In Europe, as well as elsewhere in the world, we see that antisemitism, as well as other forms of discrimination, are once again gaining ground. This is something that we have to continue to combat. It is the duty for all to reaffirm forcefully, never again. We commit to opposing all forms of hatred and injustice, ensuring that the echoes of history are never silenced.”
