Gaza - Ma‘an - In his first contact with a European nation following the announcement of the unity government, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met with Norwegian deputy minister of foreign affairs, Raymond Johansen, in Gaza on Monday.
Spokesman of the government Ghazi Hamad said that the meeting is of great importance as it is the first contact with the Europeans after the formation of the government. He said that ‘this will be an introduction to the end of the siege.‘
Italian foreign minister, Massimo D‘Alema, telephoned Haniyeh to congratulate him on the formation of the government and confirmed Italy‘s support of the government. D‘Alema told Haniyeh that Italy is a friend of the Palestinian people and supports them in their right to freedom and independence. He pointed out that Italy will make efforts to persuade other countries to cooperate with this government.
Haniyeh expressed his gratitude to the Italian minister and government for their support and confirmed the Palestinian government‘s interest in strengthening relations with Italy.
Palestinian foreign minister, Ziad Abu Amr, confirmed on Monday that the coalition government will exert pressure on the United States government to lift the crippling economic embargo on the Palestinian people.
Abu Amr said ‘there is a forthcoming Arab summit, which we are relying on to offer support to the Palestinian government through exerting pressure on the American administration to persuade them to cooperate with the Palestinian unity government.‘
Abu Amr said that the European position is encouraging as several countries have expressed readiness to support the new coalition government. The first European country to extend an invitation to the Palestinian foreign minister was France. Abu Amr will meet with the Belgian foreign minister next Friday. Sweden officials are expected to visit Palestine.
Commenting on the Israeli refusal to cooperate with the Palestinian coalition, Abu Amr said ‘Israeli diplomacy is confused and illogical as the Palestinian unanimity is moderate. So the problem now lies in the absence of an Israeli partner rather than a Palestinian one, as the Israelis used to claim.‘
The Palestinian minister explained that the problem of the crossings will be solved as soon as the captured Israeli soldier is released because that this is major cause for the complication in the crossings issue.