ROME, JANUARY 19 – Italy is ready to send our military as peacekeepers under the UN flags “if a peace mission is needed in Gaza during a transitional phase when the war is over”, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, said today on Radio24.
“Over 1,000 Italian soldiers are in Lebanon for a UN mission” (UNIFIL), the minister added. “The position that we have always followed” is the ‘Two People, Two States’ solution, in line with the G7 and of the European Union. “On the 24th and 25th, I will be in the Holy Land to speak with the Anp, because Hamas cannot govern that territory,” he then announced.
On the issue of ships in the Red Sea under attack by the Houthi, he explained that “with the mission in the Red Sea, there will be strong, vigilant, and armed defense. We are not going there just for a show. Italy – he added – is the promoter of the new initiative in the Red Sea that I will discuss on Monday at the EU Council. We think of a military mission with the participation of non-EU countries, such as Norway, to expand the scope of what already exists up to the Suez Canal.”
According to diplomatic sources, the foreign ministers of Israel and Palestine will attend the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels next Monday. The agenda currently includes breakfast with the minister of Egypt, lunch with envoys from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Arab League, then separate meetings with the 27 EU members. (@OnuItalia)