The European Parliament adopted by 338 votes to 195, with 102 abstentions, 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.
Parliament recommended the following:
- reiterate the EU’s unwavering support for the two-state solution, as the only viable solution to the conflict with the state of Israel and the state of Palestine living democratically side by side in peace, complete with guaranteed security, mutual recognition under the 1967 borders, mutually agreed-upon equivalent land swaps and Jerusalem as the capital of both states;
- 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;
- call for an immediate end to Palestinian terrorism, including the rocket attacks carried out by EU-listed Palestinian terrorist organisations, including Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine;
- 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;
- ensure that the competent EU authorities prevent EU funding from being directly or indirectly diverted to terrorist organisations;
- deplore the presence of problematic and hateful content in Palestinian school textbooks and learning materials, which have yet to be removed;
- engage in dialogue with the Arab countries that have signed the Abraham Accords, together with the EU and United States, to explore how their normalisation agreements with Israel could be conducive to the two-state solution, Palestinian economic development and the overall development of the region;
- 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 and urge the Palestinian political leadership to provide for the necessary conditions to hold free, credible, inclusive, transparent and fair parliamentary and presidential elections without any further delay in order to strengthen its legitimacy;
- ensure that the Israeli authorities allow Members of the European Parliament to access the oPt, including Gaza;
- call for the reunification of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under the sovereign power of a single, legitimate and democratic Palestinian authority;
- continue to stress that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal under international law and call for an immediate end to the settlement policy, expansion plans, expulsions of Palestinian families and demolitions of their homes;
- ensure the consistent application of the principle of legal differentiation between the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967 in all bilateral relations between the EU and Israel;
- 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;
- invite Israel to reduce physical and administrative restrictions on Palestinian economic activity and trade;
- 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.