France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy “praised”, this Saturday, March 8, the Arab plan for Gaza, which presents “a realistic route to reconstruction” of the enclave devastated by more than fifteen months of war between Israel and Hamas. “If it is implemented”, this plan promises “a rapid and sustainable improvement in the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians living in Gaza”, the foreign ministers of the four countries said in a joint statement disseminated in Berlin.
It intervenes after the formal adoption of the Arab plan by the organization of Islamic cooperation. The Arab initiative is a response to that of the American president Donald Trump to take control of the Palestinian territory and to expel its inhabitants.
The OIC, which represents the Muslim world, had called in the process “the international community and international and regional financing institutions to quickly provide the necessary support for this plan”.
“Hamas should no longer govern Gaza”
Prepared by Egypt, it plans to rebuild the Gaza strip without moving its 2.4 million inhabitants. The plan de facto puts Hamas away and provides for a return from the Palestinian authority, driven from the territory in 2007 by the Palestinian Islamist movement. However, it was rejected by Israel, and criticized by the United States.
“It is clear to us that Hamas should no longer govern Gaza or constitute a threat to Israel,” said European ministers. “We welcome the serious efforts of all the stakeholders involved and appreciate the important signal that the Arab states have sent by jointly developing this raising and reconstruction plan,” they said.
They added to “work with the Arab initiative, the Palestinians and Israel to approach these questions together, including security and governance”.