Norway to host global meet on two-state solution to Israel-Palestine conflict
Delegates from around the world will travel to Norway on Wednesday to find a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, says Norway’s Foreign Ministry.
“While we must continue to work for an end to the war [in Gaza], we must also work for a lasting solution to the conflict that guarantees self-determination, security and justice for both the Palestinians and the Israelis,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini, and UN envoy to the Middle East Tor Wennesland are among those expected to attend.
Representatives of more than 80 countries and organisations are also likely to take part, but no official Israeli delegation has been announced. Israel has condemned several countries – including Norway – recognising the Palestinian state last year.
It will be the third meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, whose creation was announced in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The first two meetings of the global alliance were held in Saudi Arabia in October and in Brussels in November last year.
UAE says it has discussed a potential role in postwar Gaza, but conditions remain unmet
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/07/middleeast/uae-discussed-role-in-postwar-gaza-intl/index.html
The United Arab Emirates has been in discussions about the possibility of playing a role in postwar efforts to rebuild Gaza, but its conditions for doing so have yet to be met, a UAE official told CNN.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has touted the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other countries as potential partners to help govern the territory after the war, but the UAE had previously said that it would refuse “to be drawn into any plan aimed at providing cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip.”
“While there have been many informal conversations taking place, parties involved have not aligned with the UAE preconditions for its involvement in any postwar effort in Gaza,” the UAE official told CNN on Tuesday.
The official was responding to a report by the Reuters news agency that behind-the-scenes discussions between the UAE, Israel and the United States included the possibility of the UAE, the US and other nations temporarily overseeing governance, security and reconstruction of Gaza after the war.
The UAE official told CNN its preconditions include a formal invitation from a “new, credible, independent” Palestinian Authority (PA) prime minister, “a serious reform process” in the PA, “an explicit commitment to the two-state solution” from Israel, and a “clear leadership role by the US.”
The UAE has long advocated for reforms within the PA, which is widely perceived as plagued by corruption, and has called for a change in its leadership. Mohammed Mustafa was sworn in as the PA’s prime minister in March, succeeding Mohammed Shtayyeh, who resigned in February.
Israeli officials have publicly rejected the possibility of the West Bank-based PA playing a role in postwar Gaza.
Reuters also reported, citing diplomats and Western officials, that UAE officials had suggested the use of private military contractors as part of a peacekeeping force in Gaza. The UAE official who spoke to CNN refuted this.
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