Estonia Supports Palestinian Peace Process with Nearly 11 Million Kroons
17.12.2007
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet participated in the Conference of Donors for the Palestinian State in Paris on Monday, 17 December.
At the conference, the topic of discussion was financial support for the peace process and its necessity in building up Palestine’s statehood and ensuring the peaceful coexistence of Israel and Palestine.
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet confirmed that Estonia will donate nearly 11 million kroons (1 million USD) in 2008-2010 to support the Palestine-Israel peace process, which was resumed following the Annapolis conference. According to the foreign minister, this is the largest contribution Estonia has ever made to global conflict resolution. “We hope this will help in the formation of a Palestinian state, including the creation of effective security forces, and also help to prevent further attacks on Israeli residents,” said Paet.
“Tensions in Middle-East have directly or indirectly caused new global problems to develop, such as international terrorism,” Foreign Minister Paet stated in his speech.
Foreign Minister Paet noted that the Palestinian people have been unable to build up a modern and decent way of life thanks to the decades-long conflict, and that the situation has created a hotbed for extremists. “Nations in good standing are able to support moderate forces that desire peace,” said Paet. “We think it’s necessary to financially support projects that ensure that the basic functions of society work properly. People must see that readiness to find compromises and renouncing the use of extreme methods will be directly reflected in the improvement of the quality of life,” Paet added.
Paet emphasized that the possibility of a solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict is better now than it has ever been before. “We can’t let this opportunity pass by. Failure could lead to unpredictable consequences which could extend beyond the Middle-East and inevitably affect Estonia as well,” he added.
The minister renowned the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and Israel, who have tried to gather moderate political powers around them and promised to avoid taking steps that would jeapordise furture negotiations.
The Conference of Donors for the Palestinian State taking place in Paris is a follow-up to the Annapolis Peace Conference. Nearly 90 nations are represented, including the initiators of the peace process—the USA, EU member states, Russia and the Arabian nations—plus international financial organisations.
