BERLIN, Tuesday, August 16, 2022 – President Mahmoud Abbas praised Germany’s positions in support of achieving a just and lasting peace in the Middle East based on the two-state solution and international legitimacy.

He made the remarks during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

President Abbas expressed appreciation for Germany’s continued support to the Palestinian people in building their capacities and national institutions, as well as its backing of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). He emphasized the importance of maintaining the work of the joint ministerial committee between the two countries.

He also highlighted Germany’s pivotal role in the Middle East and globally, particularly within the European Union and through its participation in the “Munich Format,” which includes Germany, France, Egypt, and Jordan, aiming to advance peace efforts in the region.

President Abbas reiterated his readiness to work with all relevant partners to achieve peace. He also spoke about Palestinian efforts to preserve the two-state solution and create a political horizon leading to an end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, as well as efforts to secure a just solution for Palestinian refugees.

He stressed that achieving these goals requires halting unilateral Israeli measures that violate international law and signed agreements — including settlement expansion, settler violence, killings, home demolitions, and attacks against Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the Christian and Islamic holy sites.

The President reaffirmed commitment to peaceful popular resistance and the rejection of violence and terrorism anywhere in the world.