Finland calls for 2-state solution amid rising tensions in Middle East

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) - Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen on Wednesday urged the international community to promote a two-state solution as a resolution to the conflict in the Middle East.

Valtonen stressed that the EU plays a central role in working toward this goal.

“The international community as a whole must strive to promote a two-state solution as a resolution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The EU plays a central role in working towards this goal, and it is essential to keep strengthening this position. The work of the EU-Israel Association Council, convened previously by the EU, must be launched,” Valtonen said in a statement.

The minister further stressed that reaching an agreement on a cease-fire and the release of hostages in Gaza is essential not only to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza but also to calm the situation in the region.

Since Israel launched its brutal war on Oct. 7, nearly 40,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, while more than 93,500 others are injured, according to Gaza’s local health authorities.

Nearly eleven months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on 6 May.

Valtonen is due to meet other EU foreign ministers on Thursday for an informal meeting in Brussels to discuss the war in Ukraine and rising tensions in the Middle East.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will also attend the meeting.