Palestine Hopes To Engage In Next Munich Group Meeting With Israel, US - Foreign Minister

GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2020) The Palestinian Authority hopes to attend the next meeting of the so-called Munich Group and expects that Israel and the US will also participate, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Palestinian National Authority Riyad al-Maliki said during the MED 2020 virtual conference.

On Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a telephone conversation, in which they discussed the possibility of a meeting at the level of foreign ministers of the Palestinian Authority and Israel, as well as the four countries of the Munich Group, according to the Palestinian media.

"For us these are very important elements that will encourage us to move forward. That's why when we look at the Munich Group being proposed by France, Germany, Jordan and Egypt, we are ready to receive the invitation from them to attend the meeting in the next two weeks. If there is a possibility for such group to meet soon, will they be inviting the Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers for discussions? This for us is an important opportunity in order to talk about the possibility to renew negotiations and to see that Europe and the Arab world will be embracing such initiative," al-Maliki said.

The foreign minister stressed the importance of Europe's commitment to the two-state solution and its determination to cooperate with Palestine on the issue.

"We were very encouraged to hear the European foreign minister talking about their commitment to the two-state solution and that they want to work with the Palestinians, they want to renew negotiations," al-Maliki said.

According to the foreign minister, the US plays an important role in the middle East peace process, and its participation in the Munich Group meeting is crucial.

"If such meeting takes place, we would like very much to invite Biden administration to take part, because we cannot move forward without the Americans," al-Maliki said.

The Munich Group is a negotiation platform established by Germany, France, Egypt and Jordan with an aim to promote the Israeli-Palestinian settlement. In September, foreign ministers of the group's countries met in Amman and called for a resumption of talks between the two sides, reaffirming their support for a two-state solution as the only way to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.