Norway FM: Two-state solution ‘under pressure’
Borge Brende heads to region for meetings with Abbas and Netanyahu
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norway’s foreign minister said Saturday a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “is under pressure” as he left Oslo for a visit to the Middle East.
Borge Brende said “only a two-state solution can lead to lasting peace between the parties.”
He added that “a sustainable Palestinian economy and well-functioning institutions are essential preconditions for the two-state solution.”
Brende was meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.
Norway, like neighboring Sweden, has expressed concern that Israel will allow expanded construction in major West Bank settlements. Jerusalem has said it will limit new settlement construction in the West Bank “when possible” to within areas already developed or at least to contiguous areas.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.
