The Arab Summit Meeting

Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre participated in the Arab League Summit in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on 30 March 2009. The Foreign Minister was invited in his capacity as Chair of the international donor group for the Palestinian Authority (AHLC). His address to the meeting follows below:

Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Let me first thank our gracious hosts Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani and Secretary General Amr Musa for the kind invitation to attend this summit in my capacity as Chair of the international donor group for the Palestinians.

You will understand that the focus of my intervention will be on the current challenging situation of the Palestinian economy.

My key message to you – the Heads of State of the Arab League – is that it is essential that we help secure the financial sustainability of the Palestinian institutions, which will one day form the core of a Palestinian state.

The Ad-hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), as tasked by UN Security Council resolution 1860, has a key function in the coordination of assistance to the Palestinians and in the reconstruction and long-term development of Gaza. Arab donor countries are playing an increasingly important role in these efforts. I urge you to live up to your pledges.

We must take care not to let the building blocks of the Palestinian state-in-waiting disintegrate away. The very foundation of that state is made up of the institutions of the Palestinian Authority. It took 15 years to build those institutions, but as recent events have shown, they can easily be torn down.

We must not allow the PA to become a hostage to the on-going rivalry between Palestinian factions. As Chair of the AHLC, the main message I want to convey is that we must place the PA at the centre of our efforts.

I therefore urge all donors to use existing mechanisms to channel assistance to the Palestinian Territory through the PA. We must work together to ensure that resources mobilised in Sharm al-Sheikh and elsewhere go to established and proven structures.

The international donor community’s unwavering support to the Palestinians is in essence political, not humanitarian.

Our goal is to see a free and sovereign Palestine, living side by side with Israel in peace and security – in our time, not in some distant future.

Instead we see the two-state solution gradually slipping from our grasp due to developments we know all too well.

In 1947, the UN voted to partition Palestine into two states, and two states must still be the foundational principle in our search for a peaceful resolution.

The unprecedented Arab peace initiative possibly represents our best chance to break the stalemate. But its potential to revive the peace process within a regional framework can hardly be tapped so long as both parties to the conflict are not effectively held to their commitments.

In order to keep the hope of a two-state solution alive and mobilise continued donor support for the state-building project, the ground must be prepared for a future resolution – not littered with adverse “facts”.

From Israel, a credible, good-faith effort requires an effective and total freeze on settlement construction on occupied land, including East Jerusalem. Israel’s creation of such facts on the ground must come to an end.

Likewise, there can be no economic development, let alone peace, unless Israel lifts the closure regime in accordance with the Agreement on Movement and Access.

And let me be clear: there is no substitute – economic or otherwise – for genuine political negotiations to resolve the core issues of final status. We must expect from the new Israeli government that it engages in direct negotiations on these issues without delay.

From the Palestinians, we seek one addressee, one Palestinian Authority, one partner that is empowered to pursue a final settlement through negotiations.

Sooner or later, the rival Palestinian camps must bridge the deep wadi of mistrust and competing agendas. I hope it will be sooner rather than later. Because only a reasonably unified Palestinian national movement, ready to respect key criteria of international legality, can credibly negotiate and implement a final status agreement with Israel.

Supporters of the Palestinian national aspirations should safeguard the PLO’s historic mission as the sole representative of the Palestinian people, empowered to negotiate on their behalf.

The PLO may need to reconstitute itself to better reflect developments in Palestinian public opinion. But after Gaza, this is a time to rebuild and reconstruct, not to fragment and break up. The besieged and war-weary people of Gaza deserve nothing less.

Before closing, let me add one remark on the armed conflicts in the region, one that also applies to the Darfur conflict in Sudan: they must be settled through negotiations and in accordance with international law. Sustainable peace requires respect for the rule of law and the international legal order.

Therefore my Government has emphasised the need to ensure full compliance with the decisions and requests of the Security Council in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, and in this context we urge all governments to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court.

Thank you.