If the Palestinian state emerges, it is a multi-factor state with a place for women, and in compliance with international law, including Israel’s security, the Palestinian Foreign Minister argues in an exclusive interview with the Euroneuz.
“It will be a pluralistic society. There will be a place for women. I am a woman, I am a foreign minister, I am a Christian, from the origins of Armenia,” says Varsen Aghabekian-Shaheen.
She said it will be a place to respect “international law” and “an agreement signed by the Palestine with the neighbor.”
Meanwhile, she criticized the EU’s inaction over Israeli war in Gaza and the violence in the West Bank as “shocking and disappointing.”
“The whole world sees children being brutally murdered while waiting for medical care in tents, and people are being killed while they are eagerly waiting for basic food,” said Shahin of Agavekia.
“We see children being brutally murdered while in the tent while waiting for medical care from another tent,” the Foreign Minister insisted.
The war in Gaza began in response to the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th.
Aghabekian-Shahin believes there is still hope for the adjacent Palestinian state, where Palestinian authorities (PA) control both Gaza and the West Bank.
Corruption within Palestinian authorities has been recognized
The PA’s first female foreign minister said that years of corruption and the Palestinian Liberation Agency (PLA) within the PA – the national coalition, legally recognized representatives of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, are rooted.
There are also issues of reliability and impact. While some Palestinians continue to support Hamas, demonstrations against Hamas continue to be unequal, and confidence in the performance of Palestinian rights has diminished Palestine Policy Studies Centre.
“That’s not an excuse, but corruption is everywhere. And don’t forget that we are under occupation and we have corruption in our occupation,” said Shahin of Agavekia.
“Outside funding cannot instruct the organization how you want to corrupt,” she said.
“That’s not an excuse. But today we have this governmental reform and development agenda in Palestine. And we are working on all aspects and we ensure that our organization is governed by rules and regulations that apply to everything, in order to reduce corruption,” she said, “this takes time.”
The realization of a Palestinian state is as far apart as ever, given the violence and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and maintains violence against the expulsion and expulsion of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Furthermore, Israeli Ambassador Mike Huckabee has shown that his country no longer supports the two internationally agreed solutions to the two states, and believes Israel has the right to formally occupy land on the West Bank for his historic and biblical connections.
Huckabee said potential Palestinian states could be kicked out of existing Muslim countries rather than land designated in several UN resolutions for future Palestinian states, namely, in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
However, it shows that neighboring Arab countries will not accept millions of Palestinians and will continue to advocate for solutions for the two states. Jordan, Lebanon, and, to a lesser extent, Egypt and Syria are already home to a large population of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 and 1967 wars with Israel.
“We are in two stages so we keep hope alive and we believe that the solution for those two states is the only viable solution,” she told Euronows.
Minister Agavekia – Hahin believes that the Palestinian state will be realized, and is important for Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia to promote it.
She said Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries will suspend plans to normalize relations with Israel unless the Jewish state negotiates the state for the Palestinians.
Saudi Arabia was close to officially normalizing relations with Israel just days before the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th.
“When President Trump said about his intention to create the Riviera, there was a very quick response from all Arab countries on the issue of no evacuation of Palestinians,” she said.
In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last February, US President Donald Trump said he would “take over” Gaza and turn it into a “Middle Eastern Riviera.”
Saudi Arabia and France are co-chairing the International Conference on Two-State Solutions in New York on July 28th and 29th at the Minister’s level.