President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca hoped that serious efforts will continue to resume the much-needed peace process and to achieve a two-state solution which allows Palestinians and Israelis to live side-by-side in peace.
In a statement following bilateral talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, the President noted that the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process had experienced many challenges and struggles.
Therefore, the active support of Malta, the European Union, and the international community had to continue to provide hope that an independent and democratic State of Palestine would one day exist alongside the State of Israel, in the context of the two-state solution, she said.
The President said her visit reaffirmed the political will of Malta’s government to be an active collaborator in efforts to create and to safeguard strategies for sustainable peace.
For peace to be long-lasting, it had to become an intrinsic part of all of societies and cultures.
For decades, Malta had engaged with Palestinians through various educational initiatives, including opportunities for Palestinians to study in a variety of educational sectors, the President said.
She added that as the international community affirmed, the Palestinian people deserved the right to self-determination and to reach their aspirations.
“Everybody, every member of our human family, deserves to move and travel freely, to feel secure in their communities, and to receive opportunities to fulfil their legitimate aspirations.”
She reiterated Malta’s support to the Palestinian people to achieve the full enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms saying this was what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was all about.
All stakeholders, President Coleiro Preca said, had to continue to work together to build trust and mutual respect to ensure that human rights for all were safeguarded.
Dialogue could only exist when it was rooted in these principles of respectful cooperation and peaceful coexistence.
The President participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Yasser Arafat Mausoleum in Ramallah after which she was given a tour of the adjacent museum dedicated to Yasser Arafat.
She also visited the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
President Coleiro Preca gave a public lecture on tourism at peace at the University of Bethlehem.
She appealed to those present and to tourism stakeholders to lead by example, “to encourage dialogue, to nurture opportunities for friendship, to celebrate diversity, and to promote positive investments in peace around our world”.
She was then given a tour of the faculties of Bethlehem University, which is run by the De La Salle Brothers.