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AMMAN — International support for the Palestinian Authority and the two-state solution returned to focus on Monday, as officials warned that the ongoing US-Israel-Iran escalation must not overshadow the deepening Palestinian crisis.
Meetings in Brussels brought together European and international officials who said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains central to Middle East stability despite the war involving Iran, Israel and the United States.
“We meet in the middle of a storm. But we cannot abandon the compass,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said at the opening of the Global Alliance for the Two-State Solution.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Israeli measures, including the withholding of Palestinian revenues, have placed the Palestinian economy under severe strain.
He said blocked funds now exceed $4 billion.
Safadi stressed that economic support cannot replace a political path based on the two-state solution and the Palestinian people’s right to statehood.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said more must be done to protect Palestinians and restore momentum behind a political settlement.
“We can and must do more to protect the Palestinian people and put the two-state solution back on the table,” she said.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said Gaza remains an integral part of the future Palestinian state and must eventually return to Palestinian governance.
The renewed diplomatic push comes as US President Donald Trump has largely sidelined the Palestinian Authority in proposals for post-war Gaza.
Jordan warned that economic pressure on Palestinians is intensifying.
Political science professor Areej Jabr said that international support can ease the Palestinian crisis, but cannot address its root causes while Israeli measures continue to undermine daily life and prospects for peace.
She said that pressure on UNRWA, the freezing of clearance revenues and direct Israeli control over key economic levers have weakened Palestinian resilience.
“In this context, international aid becomes almost the only path to reduce collapse,” she said.
“But it remains a tool to manage the crisis, not solve it.”
Jabr said that restrictions on movement and trade, settlement expansion, internal Palestinian divisions and the absence of sovereignty over resources all limit the impact of outside support.
On the political track, she that said the two-state solution remains the most widely accepted Arab and international framework.
But she warned that settlement growth, fragmented geography and new realities in Jerusalem and the West Bank have made implementation far more difficult.
“The solution has not completely ended, but it has become highly complex,” she said.
She added that reviving it now requires genuine international will and practical pressure to halt unilateral Israeli measures.
The Brussels meetings also reflected growing unease within parts of Europe over Israel’s actions in Lebanon and the occupied West Bank.
The renewed debate suggests the Palestinian issue remains central to regional stability, but without decisive political action, support may remain symbolic.
