Check against delivery! 

It has been a long meeting, but I am happy. I am very much satisfied.  

I think we have had a very good meeting, co-organised with the Foreign Ministers of Egypt [Sameh Shoukry], Jordan [Ayman Safadi], Saudi Arabia [Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud] and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States [Ahmed Aboul Gheit]. 

You know that these days, it is the 30 years since the Oslo Agreements. And in the last 30 years after the Oslo Agreements, we cannot say that we are closer to peace between Israel and Palestine. 

On the contrary, the number of settlements has increased a lot, and the Two-State solution needs a stronger effort. 

If we really want a Two-State solution, everybody has to support it in practical terms. 

For us, Europeans, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is very important. It is in our neighbourhood. And we see how it is deteriorating every day. 

We are very much concerned for the fate of the Palestinian people and for the effect that this conflict has also on the security of Israel. 

As neighbours, we have strong ties with the region. I cannot repeat it but historically, economically, personally, we - as Europeans - have a clear interest in the Middle East Peace Process, and also a responsibility for that.  

That is why, together with my Arab friends, from the League of Arab States and some Arab countries – I mentioned them before, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt - we launched this process ["Peace Day Effort"]. We launched the process of trying to imagine what peace would look like.

In order to reinvigorate this process and in order not to finish a meeting and forget about it, we have launched three senior-level Working Groups that will be concretely elaborating on bilateral, regional and global approaches. They will start in one month from now in Brussels.  

We will try to catalyse all international efforts in order to work for this peace. 

If everybody that has been saying here today that they support the Two-State solution, if everybody was really engaged in supporting this Two-State solution, the solution would be there already.  

We have to pass from words to deeds.  

I remember that our Arab friends launched the Arab Peace Initiative. This has to go further, to be elaborated on, to learn from the past experiences, [and] from the work that our American friends have been doing. 

And all international partners have been called to participate in this effort. 

We want to inject new energy into the peace process.  

We know that the parties are not ready [at this stage]. They are not ready. They cannot start another round of negotiations, but we cannot stay idle repeating the mantra of the Two-State Solutions without doing [all we can] to get it. 

The result of the meeting is a stronger commitment by many people to engage more on this Two-State solution, which is the only viable solution.  

There is not an alternative. There is not a viable other solution.  

We have to prepare the ground for a comprehensive peace which is long overdue – for the benefit of the people in Israel and Palestine. 

Q&A  

Q. I know you have been talking today about the Middle East Peace Process, and the Two-States solution, but I think it is important we get your reaction to the big news of the day: the release of the prisoners by Iran. Do you think it could have a positive effect on restarting the negotiations on the nuclear deal? 

I do not know, but I welcome very much this news. I welcome [it] very much because it is a step forward towards the liberation of people who have been taking into jail by the Iranians. This could also help us to get the liberation of some of our [citizens and] dual nationals.  

This is good news. We will continue working together with my European Union colleagues in order to get the liberation of [our citizens and] the dual nationals that are still prisoners in Iran. 

About the relation between that and the nuclear deal, I cannot elaborate. I don’t know. Maybe. 

Q. You said that lessons should be learned. What lessons should be learned when it comes to the Arab Initiative? Do you think the Arabs should come with a different approach or should there be amendments on the Initiative? What lesson are you talking about? 

We have to revive this Initiative. I want to remind also that the European Union - ten years ago - said that in case of an agreement for peace, we will provide a strong, comprehensive and very much complete package to support this peace. 

There are a lot of people willing to support it. The Arabs on one side, the Europeans on the other side. The issue is to gather our efforts.  

Certainly, I welcome the agreements between the Arab countries and Israel. This makes peace between some Arab countries and Israel. But we have to work for the peace between Israel and Palestine, and on that everyone has to make a contribution - the Arabs, the Europeans, the United States, all around the world. Today here, there were 60 States represented. I think that from the point of view of the number of people attending and the strong commitment to the Two-State solution, I can say that this meeting has been a success.  

Q. What are you going to do about settlements?  

I do not have a magic wand. We will continue working. I think today is a good start. It is an injection of new political will, energising the process. I cannot say that everything has been solved. It is a starting point. 

Link to the video https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-246148 

See the joint press statement by the organisers here.