Latest news with #VarsenAghabekianShahin
Euronews
6 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
Exclusive: Palestinian FM 'shocked' at EU failure to act over Gaza
The Palestinian Authority's (PA) minister for foreign affairs, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, described as 'shocking and disappointing' the European Union's refusal to act against Israel for violations in Gaza and the West Bank. The PA governs the West Bank while Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip for much of the last two decades. It has been severely weakened because of Israel's assault in Gaza. EU foreign affairs ministers failed on Tuesday to agree on any action against the Jewish state despite an EU report showing Israel is in breach of Article 2 of the Israel-EU Association Agreement, which underlines that human rights and democratic principles must be respected. It's 'shocking and disappointing, because everything is crystal clear. I mean, there's a new EU report that clearly stated that Israel has been violating ... 38 violations were indicated in that report. And it's an EU report,' Aghabekian Shahin told Euronews in an exclusive interview. 'These violations have been unfolding in front of everybody's eyes. The whole world has been seeing what is happening in Gaza. The killing. The atrocities, the war crimes, the weaponisation of food, the killing of people queuing to get a pack of flour,' she said. Aghabekian was in Brussels as EU foreign ministers failed to get the requisite support to coalesce unanimously to agree on any measure, despite the conclusion that Israel is in breach of human rights in the West Bank and Gaza laws. The EU and its member states are the biggest donors of humanitarian and development aid to the Palestinians, but due to historical divisions, are unable to forge a common foreign policy. Ministers were given a range of ten options by EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas to apply as potential penalties against Israel in response to the breaches. Such options included suspension of Israel's access to the EU's Horizon Europe Research programme, limited trade measures, an arms embargo or sanctions against extremist hardline members of the Israeli government, such as Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Both Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have been sanctioned by the UK, Norway, Canada, New Zealand and Australia for 'repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.' Yet it was a foregone conclusion that no measures would pass, as most decisions require unanimity from all member states, and Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic consistently refuse any criticism against Israel's military campaigns in the Palestinian territories. For decisions that require a qualified majority vote, either Germany or Italy – the countries with the largest populations – need to support them, and neither was willing. Last week, ahead of the meeting on Tuesday, the EU struck a deal with Israel to 'substantially' increase the number of trucks of humanitarian aid including medical food items into Gaza. Kallas said Tuesday that while there has been some improvement in the number of trucks entering Gaza, the situation was still 'catastrophic'. In the days following the deal, dozens of Palestinian civilians including many children have been killed trying to access aid. On Sunday Israel admitted a 'technical error' after 10 people were killed including six children at a water distribution centre in Nuseirat refugee camp. 'I hope the EU puts very strong scrutinizing measures on monitoring the compliance with the agreement, because if we look at the last week, since the agreement was made, we see more killings of people', the foreign minister said. 'We see people killed at the queuing points. We see children brutally murdered while in tents. Awaiting medical care from another tent', said Aghabekian Shahin. Israel says the violence in Gaza is a response to Hamas stealing and diverting aid from starving Palestinians. 'There are conflicting reports on this. But regardless, whatever is being offered in Gaza is not meeting the needs of the Gazans', she said. Aghabekian Shahin said where in the past there were 300 points of distribution of food and aid, today there are four. 'There was a modality in the past, and that modality was working because the international organisations were distributing the aid, and they had like 300 points of distribution. Today we have a new modality with four points of the distribution', she told Euronews. In its last humanitarian update on 9 July, the UN estimated that one-third of Gazans are going entire days without eating and more people are at risk of starvation. Health services face an imminent shutdown due to a lack of fuel.
Al Arabiya
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Israeli, Palestinian foreign ministers to attend EU meeting
Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers were due at a meeting in Brussels between the EU and its southern neighbors on Monday, but the Palestinian Authority denied the two would meet. It would be the first time since the Gaza war began in October 2023 that Israeli and Palestinian ministers attended a high-level meeting in the same room. The office for Israel's foreign minister said that alongside the ministerial meeting, Gideon Saar would hold talks with the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas and the bloc's Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica. Saar is also expected to meet with foreign ministers on the sidelines of the event, the statement added. The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) confirmed the attendance of foreign minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin but denied media reports that any meeting with Saar was on the agenda. A statement said that Shahin would give a speech 'focusing on the suffering of the Palestinian people under the ongoing war of extermination and displacement in the Gaza Strip, the systematic starvation policy practiced by the occupying state, and the financial blockade imposed on the Palestinian government.' It said she would also address the situation in the occupied West Bank, where violence is surging and Israel is waging a months-long military operation in the north that has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians. The foreign ministry said Shahin was scheduled to hold meetings with Kallas and a number of European foreign ministers. 'The minister will demand an immediate halt to the crimes of genocide, displacement and annexation, and to compel the Israeli government to comply with the international will for peace and open a political negotiation process to end the occupation and enable our people to exercise their right to self-determination,' the statement said.
Euronews
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Exclusive: Israel and Palestine both to attend key Brussels meeting
The ministers for foreign affairs of Palestine and Israel will be in the same meeting as part of the EU-Southern Neighbourhood ministerial meeting on Monday 14 July in Brussels, diplomats and officials have told Euronews. The meeting aims to deepen the EU's cooperation with Israel as well as nine other southern partners including Syria and Libya. It's the first time both sides will be represented at high level in Brussels since Hamas October 7th terror attacks and subsequent Israeli military action in Gaza. The two sides meet frequently at the United Nations but this setting is a more intimate high-level forum, and comes in the week when EU member states are considering taking measures against Israel for its war in Gaza and violence by Israeli Settlers in the West Bank. Senior Israeli and Palestinian officials confirmed to Euronews that Gideon Saar and Dr. Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, Israel and the Palestinian Authority's foreign affairs ministers would participate in the meeting. Syria's foreign minister from the newly installed government, Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, is also due to attend. 'We would like for us as Palestinians to speak for ourselves at this meeting and send a message to Europeans about the humanitarian crisis for Palestinians and ask that they take measures against Israel,' a Palestinian official told Euronews. 'We will also explain the deteriorating financial situation for the Palestinian Authority as Israel continues to withhold €8.2 billion shekels (€2.1bn) from tax revenues.' 'We want to push for elections for Palestinian people and find a political solution to our situation,' the official added. The meeting was initially scheduled to take place in June, but the Commission had to postpone the date due to the situation in Gaza. It comes at a time of difficult relations between the EU and Israel following the country's blockage of food from entering into Gaza and after Palestinian health officials and witnesses alleged recent shootings by Israeli soldiers of Palestinians headed for humanitarian aid sites. The EU 27 foreign ministers are also scheduled to examine a set of ten options on July 15th following a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement which revealed that Tel Aviv had breached the agreement's Article 2 due to its actions in Gaza. The proposals, which are listed with their legal basis and the procedure to adopt them, include suspending the 'entire' EU-Israel Association Agreement, halting political dialogue with Israel, or barring Tel Aviv's access to EU programs, all of which require unanimity among 27 member states. But the Southern neighbourhood ministerial meeting also takes place following the announcement on Thursday that the EU and Israel had agreed to a "significant" improvement of humanitarian aid access into Gaza. The EU's Southern Neighbourhood partnership derives from the 1995 Barcelona Declaration which committed to turn the Mediterranean into 'an area of dialogue, exchange and cooperation, guaranteeing peace, stability and prosperity', according to an official Commission document. It involves ministers and other representatives from all 27 EU countries as well as 11 Arab countries of the Mediterranean including Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Libya.
Arab News
01-07-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Europe's lifeline to Palestine will not fix its bleeding economy
The European Commission's allocation last month of a €202 million ($238 million) aid package to support the Palestinian Authority and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees comes as a rare moment of good news amid a sea of economic despair and political paralysis in Palestine. But while welcome, the European aid barely scratches the surface of a deepening fiscal crisis, exacerbated by both internal dysfunction and relentless external pressure, chief among them the destructive policies of the current Israeli government. Of the total package, €150 million is earmarked for supporting the PA in providing essential services, from teachers' salaries to public healthcare and civil administration. That might seem like a lifeline, but it is a frayed rope that risks snapping under the weight of political strings and mounting debt. Moayad Afaneh, an economist and adviser to several Palestinian governments, has been reported as saying that the aid is not a 'breakthrough,' but rather it is part of a larger EU commitment of €300 million for 2025, which is trickling through at a rate of just €20 million a month — only enough to pay a fraction of public servants' wages. Most PA employees currently receive only about 35 percent of their salaries. Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, newly sworn in on June 19, struck a cautious tone, saying that the EU package partially covers the gap in the Palestinian treasury. 'Our treasury is suffering extremely due to the unlawful decision by the Israeli finance minister to withhold funds collected on our behalf,' she said. These funds — taxes on goods entering the Occupied Territories through Israeli-controlled ports — are a key pillar of the Palestinian economy. Under the 1994 Paris Protocol, Israel is obligated to transfer these customs and VAT revenues to the PA. But in recent years, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has chosen to withhold a significant portion of these funds, citing opposition to PA stipends paid to the families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned by Israel. It might help pay off the salary backlog, but it cannot stem the tide of an economy that is collapsing under siege Daoud Kuttab This Israeli financial chokehold is not a new tactic, but it is being wielded with renewed cruelty. Smotrich's decisions are crippling the PA's ability to operate, even at a bare minimum level. Most dangerously, he last month refused to renew a banking waiver that enabled financial transactions between Palestinian and Israeli banks, threatening to paralyze already-strained Palestinian financial institutions. To be clear, this is not just an economic dispute. It is a calculated form of collective punishment, wielded not only against the PA but against millions of Palestinians who rely on public services, employment and stability. In an already volatile environment — one in which the war in Gaza has reignited flames of violence across the West Bank — such financial strangulation is akin to throwing fuel on the fire. Palestinian businessman Samir Hulileh, a former Cabinet secretary, stressed that the financial crisis is as much political as it is economic. A high-profile Saudi-French UN conference, in which Riyadh and others were expected to announce renewed aid, was last month postponed due to Israel's war with Iran. So, Europe's €202 million must be seen in this sobering context. It might help pay off the salary backlog, but it cannot stem the tide of an economy that is collapsing under siege. Nor can it address the deep structural problems within the Palestinian political apparatus itself. The EU and Arab countries correctly conditioned aid on reforms: governance improvements, anticorruption measures and, crucially, leadership succession. The appointment of Hussein Al-Sheikh as vice president to President Mahmoud Abbas in April was one such step. But without elections or the meaningful rejuvenation of Palestinian institutions, the PA remains politically stagnant and increasingly disconnected from the people it claims to serve. Meanwhile, the violence on the ground is escalating. Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank — often coordinated or shielded by the Israeli military — have intensified in both frequency and brutality. At least four Palestinians were killed last month alone, including three in Kafr Malik, northeast of Ramallah, on June 25, when settlers opened fire on villagers. Despite five settlers being arrested, all were released without charge. More than 80 such attacks reportedly occurred in the space of a week — many involving arson, destruction of property and physical assaults. The Palestinian economy is buckling under the weight of inflation, liquidity imbalances and currency distortions Daoud Kuttab Al-Sheikh has appealed for urgent international intervention and the UN has expressed grave concern, calling on Israel to protect civilians and hold perpetrators accountable. But words are not enough. The international community cannot remain a passive observer while armed settlers terrorize Palestinian communities with impunity in areas like Masafer Yatta and the Jordan Valley, regions long targeted for forced displacement. At the same time, the Palestinian economy is buckling under the weight of inflation, liquidity imbalances and currency distortions. The Israeli society's shift toward digital payments has left Palestinian banks overwhelmed with physical shekels, while Palestinians themselves remain largely cash-reliant. Price disparities are further distorting the market: cigarettes and gasoline are cheaper in the West Bank than in Israel, spurring cross-border cash purchases that deepen economic instability. All this unfolded as the US Supreme Court ruled that lawsuits against the PA and the Palestine Liberation Organization could proceed in American courts, adding yet another financial and legal threat to an already beleaguered government. So, while Europe's €202 million package is certainly appreciated — and desperately needed — it must not become a substitute for sustained international political engagement. Nor should it obscure the core truth: the PA is not merely mismanaged or inefficient, it is besieged — politically, economically and now physically. True resilience for Palestine will not come from short-term aid alone, but from ending the deliberate policies of economic sabotage, settler violence and diplomatic marginalization that are bleeding the Palestinian people of hope. If Europe, the US and the Arab world want to see a stable and peaceful region, they must move beyond charity and toward accountability. That means confronting Israeli policies head-on and upholding the international agreements and laws they so often invoke. Without justice, no amount of aid will bring lasting peace.
Maroc
21-05-2025
- Business
- Maroc
Palestinian FM Expresses Thanks to HM the King for His Efforts in Support of Palestinian Cause, Two-State Solution
Palestinian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, expressed, on Tuesday in Rabat, her thanks to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the al-Quds Committee, for His efforts in support of the Palestinian cause and the implementation of the Two-State solution. During a press briefing on the sidelines of the Fifth Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, the Palestinian minister said that holding the meeting in Morocco is part of the Kingdom's sustained efforts to make the State of Palestine a concrete reality. 'We are counting heavily on this kind of meeting,' especially at a time when Palestine is going through a very delicate situation, she added, noting that this meeting would contribute to efforts to achieve the two-state solution and enrich the work of the high-level conference on the two-state solution, scheduled to take place at UN headquarters in New York next June. Co-hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the theme "Sustaining Momentum for the Peace Process: Lessons Learned, Success Stories and Steps Forward," this meeting brings together government officials and representatives from around 50 countries and international organizations committed to the Two-State Solution. The meeting aims to take stock of efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East, to highlight the successes achieved in this area, and to draw the appropriate lessons for concrete, time-bound measures to relaunch the Two-State solution. The meeting will also explore ways of building the Palestinian economy. The work of the meeting is divided into three thematic sessions dealing with the impact of peace processes in the Middle East, efforts to support the governance structures of the Palestinian state, and the economic foundations of peace in the region. MAP: 20 mai 2025
