Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide met President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas

President Abbas warmly thanked Norway for recognizing the State of Palestine and expressed concern for the situation in the West Bank. The escalation in the West Bank, which recently only has worsened, undermines the Palestinian Government’s ability to govern the country.

'At the meeting, I emphasized Norway's continued support for a political process to build a Palestinian state. In recent months, the Arab Peace Vision, of which Norway is a strong supporter, has gained increasing support. For far too long, the two-state solution has been something everyone supports, but without taking concrete steps to make it happen. A clear majority of the world's countries support the establishment of a viable Palestinian state, so that the two-state solution becomes a reality. But the reality is that the two-state solution is threatened by Israel's prolonged occupation, by the many illegal settlements and systematic attacks on Palestinian institutions. It is therefore urgent to do what we can to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution, we cannot wait until the war in Gaza is over. I therefore hope the meetings in New York on Thursday, of the International donor group for Palestine (the Ad-hoc Liaison Committee, AHLC) and the Ministerial meeting on the implementation of the two-state solution, can help more countries become more specific on what we can do together to realize a viable Palestinian state,' said Minister of Foreign Affairs Barth Eide.