Israeli Ambassador to “N”: The Greek initiative for the “5X5” scheme in the Eastern Mediterranean is very positive

Katz also emphasized that Israel also views very positively the agreement between the Republic of Cyprus and Lebanon on the delimitation of the maritime zones of the two countries. The Israeli ambassador also explained to “Naftemporiki” why Israel categorically rejects Turkey’s involvement in the post-war situation in Gaza and refers to the prospects of establishing a Palestinian state, based on the Trump peace plan, which was adopted by the UN Security Council.

Mr. Ambassador, the war in Gaza is over, and everyone is now waiting for the next day, which is based on President Trump’s peace plan, which was essentially adopted in the UN Security Council resolution.

We support President Trump’s plan. We believe that it gives the best chance for the recovery of the region and especially Gaza. It demands that Hamas, the terror organization, will be dismantled. And there should be disarmament and a new government in Gaza. Basically, we are towards the end of phase one, Israel has withdrawn to the places where it was supposed to withdraw to and humanitarian aid is flowing undisrupted into Gaza.

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Έλληνες φοιτητές στην κορυφή του κόσμου: Πρωτιά σε διαγωνισμό διαπραγματεύσεων για ομάδα του ΟΠΑ – Συμμετείχαν Columbia και INSEAD

What is clear is that Hamas is violating the agreement, all the time. They did not of course release the bodies of the hostages, according to the timetable. They don’t show any will to disarm themselves. On the contrary, they are starting to rebuild their authority and control of Hamas, which are a bit less than 50% of the Gaza Strip.

So the actual test will be the ability to create a structure that will lead to the disarmament of Hamas and the establishment of a different government.

We need to see Hamas disarmed. Unfortunately, some of the countries, including Turkey, are interested in maintaining Hamas, in protecting Hamas.

Ankara continues to provide shelter to Hamas people within Turkey and would like to see Hamas remain as part of the new administration structure in Gaza. And of course we are categorically opposed to that. Of course, this also goes against the intention of the President of the United States. We oppose for the same reason any involvement of Qatar in Gaza, given their past relations.

We believe that we must find a way to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The only way to achieve this is to work with pragmatic forces that accept the idea of two nation states. We are talking about Palestinian pragmatic forces that understand the need to coexist with Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

I do not know who their leader will be. The Palestinians now have the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas, who just celebrated his 90th birthday. And I wish him a long life and a healthy life.

But ultimately what the Trump plan, which Israel has endorsed, is a set of very deep reforms that will be endorsed by the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority now is incapable. It supports terrorism in various forms. In fact, the mechanism of payments for terrorism that the Palestinians built is giving even more money this time than in the past to convicted terrorists for terrorist acts. The greater the crime that someone committed, the more money they received.

There is a perception in Palestinian society, not much different from the indoctrination we have seen in Gaza under Hamas: That there should be only one state between the Jordan and the sea, and that will be a Palestinian state. That needs to change.

The pro-Iranian Houthis in Yemen continue to threaten trade and freedom of navigation. They still have very strong militias in Iraq, and some remnants in Syria. In Lebanon too, Hezbollah is building itself massively and rapidly again.

The Pope is a spiritual leader of many people and he visited the region to strengthen the relationship with the faithful and to see that they will be protected in these areas. Lebanon, of course, is a country where there is a significant number of Christians.

The Abraham Accords are a kind of cooperation between powers in the Middle East that are realistic, moderate, who believe in stability and want to strengthen it, for the benefit of the people living in the region.

And this very loose alliance is facing extremist forces in the Middle East. There are extremist Shiite forces led by Iran and extremist Sunnis, who unfortunately continue to be supported by Turkey and Qatar today.

Βoth sides define their relationship as a strategic partnership. And it is truly strategic because it is based on a layer of values, but also of common interest.

During these two years, Greece has proven to be a friend to Israel. Usually, between two friends, there is no agreement on everything. But we can discuss everything in a very friendly way. And that is the case with Greece. We have common interests, a strong friendly relationship, which serves both societies.

We both want to see a stable Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean. We both believe that stability will allow us to create projects that will improve life in both our countries, but also in the entire region. That is why we believe in energy connectivity. And we are making efforts to establish it, whether it is natural gas or electricity. That is why we are increasing trade and cooperation in various sectors.

Greek-Israeli cooperation also serves Europe. For example, last week there was a large gathering of scientists from Israel, Cyprus and Greece, under the auspices of the State of Israel and the Horizon Europe program. This is an important tool for investing in science and technology, creating joint ventures and research projects.

The initiative does not sideline Israel. It is to serve Greek interests. And I think it is a very positive initiative. You also see that there are other countries with friendly relations, which are not part of this initiative. You have some issues that you need to resolve and which require a comprehensive discussion and cooperation with countries with uncertain relations.

In this context, how does Israel view the Cyprus-Lebanese agreement on the delimitation of maritime zones?

We view this agreement very positively. It is something natural, because it can allow both sides to maximize their potential. So we are positive. We have done it with others in the past. We are doing it with Cyprus. We have even done this with Lebanon under certain circumstances, despite the fact that the two countries have not yet concluded a peace agreement.

Mr. Ambassador, thank you very much for this very interesting discussion.