Palestine: remarks by High Representative/vice-President Kaja Kallas at the joint press conference with the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Mohammad Mustafa

Check against delivery! 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....