The international community will have to maintain pressure on Israel after a hoped-for ceasefire in Gaza so it accepts the creation of a Palestinian state, Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Mustafa said on Wednesday.
A ceasefire agreement appears close following a recent round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, with mediators in Doha making a final push Wednesday to seal a deal.
“The ceasefire we’re talking about… came about primarily because of international pressure. So pressure does pay off,” Mustafa said before a conference in Oslo.
Israel must “be shown what’s right and what’s wrong, and that the veto power on peace and statehood for Palestinians will not be accepted and tolerated any longer,” he told reporters in the Norwegian capital.
He was speaking at the start of the third meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, gathering representatives from some 80 states and organisations in Oslo.
A ceasefire is “necessary, but not enough”, Mustafa later told reporters after a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
“We need a ceasefire to start doing other things,” he said, adding that a truce should lead to greater security, the opening of more border crossings in Gaza and more humanitarian assistance.
