Palestine: remarks by High Representative/vice-President Kaja Kallas at the joint press conference with the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Mohammad Mustafa
European External Action Service (EEAS)
27.03.2025
Ramallah, Palestine
EEAS Press Team
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Dear Prime Minister Mustafa,
Dear Mohammad,
It is good to be here in Ramallah today. The European Union's relations with Palestine are getting stronger. In less than a month, we will be holding our first-ever High-Level Political Dialogue in Brussels, with Palestine. This is an important basis to increase our cooperation in many areas.
So let me thank you for welcoming me here today. Although I wish it was under different circumstances.
The European Union strongly opposes the resumption of war. It is causing an appalling and unacceptable loss of life in Gaza.
My messages during my first visit here are clear: Hamas must release all hostages, Israel must fully reinstate humanitarian aid to Gaza, and negotiations must resume.
Prime Minister, you can count on the European Union's support to a return to the ceasefire.
Our EUBAM Rafah border crossing Mission is ready to resume its monitoring activity at the Rafah Crossing Point. Recently, it helped more than four thousand people cross over to Egypt, many of them to seek much needed aid.
It is hard to talk about reconstruction while the bombs are falling but the Prime Minister and I also discussed the Arab Plan for Gaza which is something the European Union supports as a basis.
The European Union is the biggest donor of aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. And we will play our part in Gaza's reconstruction.
As we move forward it is clear that Hamas cannot have a future role in governance. The exact form of governance will take more discussion of course and we can have those discussions in the future. But the EU sees the Palestinian Authority as best placed to govern Gaza.
Here, Prime Minister, you can also count on the EU support in helping the Palestinian Authority to prepare.
Last year we provided over almost €400 million in emergency support to the Palestinian Authority. Now we are preparing more longer-term support, conditional on government reforms.
And while further discussions on how to share the cost for Gaza's reconstruction are needed, let me say this: Palestinians for whom Gaza is their home, must be able to return.
Finally, on the West Bank, the European Union sees Israel's military operations causing more displacements and more destruction.
Settler violence and new settlements under construction are undermining the prospect of a two-state solution, when the two-state solution is really the only path to sustainable peace.
This is the position of the European Union.
Thank you again Prime Minister, I look forward to our close cooperation, and also welcoming you in Brussels next month.
Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-269802
Q&A.
Q. Today the [inaudible] published 15,000 children named with age killed during this war. In a few days just 600 people killed, the health ministry said 70% of them are children and women. Are we going to see more intervention or more from the European Union to put an end to this war and to reach a ceasefire?
Thank you. As I say, we support the return to the ceasefire, and we really deplore the appalling loss of life in Gaza. I think we can all think what more we can do. Today we also were discussing maybe that our Rafah mission could also be used to help the humanitarian aid to reach the people in need. We are trying to think along the lines of what more we can do. But right now it is for the mediators to sit down with the parties to really return to the ceasefire to stop the killing.
Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-269803
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