(Communicated by the President’s Spokesperson)
President Reuven Rivlin this morning (Sunday 31 May 2015), held a working meeting at his residence with German Foreign Minister Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The two picked up their discussion directly following the President’s state visit to Germany two weeks ago, and spoke about current developments, as well as the ongoing strengthening of ties between Germany and Israel.
At the beginning of the meeting, the President shook the Foreign Minister’s hand, and welcomed him warmly. He said, “I am delighted to host you here, you are a true friend of Israel.” The President spoke about the international concern regarding the Israel-Palestinian conflict and the need for a renewal of direct negotiations, “We do not need to be pressured, the need to rebuild Gaza and the renewal of direct negotiations is very clear to us. The Palestinian’s unilateral actions as we saw for example on Friday in Zurich are unnecessary and a bizarre twist on history – that the successors of those who murdered athletes in Munich should now be promoting a boycott of Israel, goes against the ideas of humanity and justice.”
The President concluded by noting that the Foreign Minister was, after their meeting, travelling to meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas. He said, “It is a great pleasure for us to host you here as a good friend. We hope that in your meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, you will be able to stress the idea that, for both people, the only way we will be able to bring an end to the conflict is through direct negotiations.”
German Foreign Minister Steinmeier thanked the President for his warm welcome and spoke of the importance of the President’s recent visit to Germany. He said, “I want to thank you for your time. I remember that when we have met in the past, we often spoke about the crisis in your region, and today we are also discussing the crisis in our region. The calming of the situation in the eastern Ukraine is still very difficult and the ceasefire is still very fragile. At the same time I know that the situation in your region is much more complicated. I just had the opportunity to discuss with Prime Minister Netanyahu the number of crisis regions here – Syria, Iran, and the Palestinians. I still believe in the need to return to negotiations for a two state solution. The troubled situation in Gaza demands of us to think about concrete steps to improve daily life there - without which I am afraid, the situation is escalating.”
During the course of their meeting, Foreign Minister Steinmeier stressed that all unilateral actions are an obstacle in the road to peace negotiations. He stressed also that was keen to promote concrete steps for the rehabilitation of Gaza in order to build confidence between the sides, out of an understanding, which the President expanded upon in their meeting, that the situation in Gaza cannot be ignored, and the discussion only focus on the situation in Judea and Samaria. The President and the Foreign Minister agreed that there was disparity on the Palestinian side with regard to engaging in joint measures which would lead to a return to the negotiations, and as such, the President noted, Europe had an important role to play as mediators.