Minister Xavier Bettel visits the Amari refugee camp in Palestine;
Credit: MAEE
On Wednesday 10 January, Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Defence, Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Xavier Bettel, visited Palestine, the second day of his visit to Israel and Palestine.
The visit started with a bilateral meeting with the Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees in Palestine in the Middle East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, as well as a visit to the Amari refugee camp and its medical infrastructure.
Commissioner Lazzarini informed the Luxembourg delegation about the work carried out by UNRWA in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, particularly with regard to the enormous challenges that this United Nations agency faces. Minister Bettel thanked UNRWA for its work in currently caring for more than 4.7 million Palestinian refugees, and paid tribute to the 146 UNRWA employees who were killed in Gaza.
“UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response to the current crisis in the Gaza Strip, and plays a vital role in providing necessary humanitarian services to the populations in the Gaza Strip,” Minister Bettel said, assuring the Commissioner General of Luxembourg's continued support for UNRWA.
In Ramallah, Minister Bettel then had bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Riad al-Malki. Minister Bettel was also able to meet other personalities of Palestinian society, namely Mustafa Barghouti, President of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, and Hanan Ashrawi, former Palestinian minister and the only woman to date to have been a member of the Executive Committee of the 'PLO.
The various meetings provided an opportunity to discuss in depth the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as the prospects for the two-state solution. Concerning the situation in Gaza, the head of Luxembourg diplomacy highlighted the absolute necessity of an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
He reiterated Luxembourg's attachment to the two-state solution, the only way to guarantee a lasting and just peace. In this regard, the minister condemned the settlement policy pursued by the Israeli government, one of the main obstacles to the two-state solution.
Finally, Minister Bettel also underlined the importance of organising democratic elections in Palestine in good time.
