Recommendation to the Council, the Commission and the Commission Vice President/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on Relations with the Palestinian Authority

The Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted an own-initiative report by Evin INCIR (S&D, SE) on a European Parliament recommendation to the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on relations with the Palestinian Authority.

Members recommended that, in implementing the EU’s relations with the PA, the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy:

- reiterate the EU’s unwavering support for the two-state solution, as the only viable solution to the conflict;

- call for an immediate end to all acts of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in order to reverse this spiral of violence and engage in meaningful efforts to restart peace negotiations;

- work in partnership with Israel, the PA, the United States and Arab partners in the region with a view to preventing the rearming of terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and their smuggling of weapons, manufacturing of rockets and building of tunnels;

- demand that Israel, as the occupying power, stop destroying vital civilian infrastructure and illegally exploiting water and land resources in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem;

- support Palestinian calls for renewed and inclusive political representation;

- ensure that the Israeli authorities allow Members of the European Parliament to access the oPt, including Gaza;

- continue to underline that Israeli settlements in the oPt are illegal under international law;

- work towards an immediate end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip;

- enhance funding, including humanitarian aid and development assistance for the green transition, youth participation, democratisation, good governance and the implementation of anti-corruption efforts and measures, such as public financial management reform;

- expand EU funding and programmes in vulnerable areas around East Jerusalem and rural areas of the West Bank and defend the rights of Palestinians living in Area C;

- continue to work with the PA and UNRWA to ensure continued and additional financial support, so that Palestine refugees in the oPt and neighbouring host countries continue to receive the assistance and protection that the agency is mandated to provide;

- provide Palestinian partners with long-term planning security and predictability by accompanying the 2024-2027 joint strategy with a multiannual action plan;

- express concern about the negative impact of the new rules restricting foreign citizens’ entry to and residence in the West Bank on both Palestinian society and EU citizens who wish to work, study or live in the West Bank.