RAMALLAH, May 26, 2025 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday that the immediate priority for the Palestinian leadership is to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and ensure unimpeded entry of aid to the Strip.
President Abbas made his remarks during a phone call with the President of the European Council, António Costa.
President Abbas briefed the President of the European Council, Costa, on the recent developments in the occupied territories, with a focus on the ways to halt Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on the Strip, which killed at least 53,977 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 122,966 others, and ensure the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip.
He added that the current priorities also include supporting the Palestinian Government’s efforts to assume its civil and security responsibilities in the Strip, the full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, alongside halting the attacks committed by the occupation authorities and colonists in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and releasing Palestinian tax revenues withheld by Israel.
He underscored the importance of the efforts made by Arab states and international actors to lay the groundwork for an international peace conference in June, aimed at mobilizing support for the State of Palestine and its bid to full UN membership, as a prelude to initiating a political path that would be conducive to ending the Israeli occupation of the territories of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He stressed the importance of the EU’s support for this conference, which he described as one that aligns with the EU’s stated policies in line with the UN resolutions and international law.
He voiced his appreciation for the EU’s longstanding positions in support of the two-state solution and rejecting Israeli settler-colonialism, halting the ongoing genocidal war, and ensuring the unimpeded entry of aid to the Strip, while thanking the EU for the assistance it provides in support of the Palestinian government’s reform agenda as well as for the relief aid provided to Gaza.
He expressed his hope that the relations of friendship and partnership between Palestine and the EU member state would culminate in the expansion of the wave of recognition of the Palestinian state and mobilizing international support to building Palestinian institutions, supporting the Palestinian Government’s Reform and Development Programs, and reinforcing Palestine-EU partnership by initiating official talks on a full association agreement.
K.F.
