Blanar: Slovakia Welcomes Adoption of UN Security Council Resolution on Gaza

Bratislava, 19 November (TASR) - Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) has said that the adoption of the United Nations Security Council resolution supporting US President Donald Trump's peace plan for the Gaza Strip may help to resolve the situation and bring the countries closer to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, TASR learnt from the Foreign Ministry's communications department on Wednesday. According to Blanar, the resolution has the potential to build on the 1993 Oslo Accords, for which actors on both sides were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. "We welcome this step as an important act of international law that opens the next phase on the path towards peace and the necessary stabilisation and reconstruction of Gaza without the influence of Hamas," said Blanar. In order to implement the resolution successfully, it is crucial to gradually strengthen trust and restrict any activities that undermine stability. In this regard, Slovakia supports statements by the European Union and other partners who have strongly condemned violence committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. "Slovakia absolutely supports all peace initiatives aimed at ending the conflict and alleviating the suffering of civilians. Achieving consensus between Israel and Hamas based on President Trump's peace plan for the Gaza Strip was an extremely important beginning, upon which this peace effort must be built and actively pursued further," said Blanar, highlighting the Security Council's constructive approach in discussing and approving the document. In New York on Monday (17 November), the UN Security Council approved a resolution in support of Trump's peace plan for the Gaza Strip, specifying additional steps to be taken by the international community for Gaza, such as sending a temporary international stabilisation force to the enclave after two years of war. The possibility of the future existence of a Palestinian state is also mentioned in the text. jrg/df