JERUSALEM: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will travel to Israel on Tuesday for wide-ranging talks covering energy and his counterpart’s controversial plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
Mitsotakis will lead the largest high-level delegation to Israel since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with six ministers in tow including defense and tourism.
Their overnight stay follows a visit to Jerusalem last week by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who voiced European discontent at Israeli proposals to annex West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley.
The step forms part of a peace plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump in January, which has been backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and wholly rejected by the Palestinians.
“We will discuss the peace plan of President Trump and we will talk about energy and the EastMed (gas pipeline), stability in the Middle East with an emphasis on Iran and Lebanon,” Israeli foreign ministry official Iris Ambor told journalists on Monday.
Israel, Greece and Cyprus in January signed the EastMed deal for a huge pipeline to ship gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe, despite objections from Turkey.
Mitsotakis will hold talks with Netanyahu on Tuesday and the following day visit Jerusalem’s Holocaust memorial site Yad Vashem, Ambor said.
The Greece delegation will not travel to the West Bank city of Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, according to Israeli officials.
The European Union is weighing retaliatory measures as a response to Israeli annexation, which could begin from July 1, although sanctions would require the agreement of all 27 member states.
Israel is counting on European allies such as Austria and Hungary — who last month refused to back a resolution against annexation — and “friendly” countries such as Greece and Cyprus to tone down the EU response.
“Our request to Greece is to support us at the EU level, to make sure the European Union has sensible language when dealing with the peace plan,” an Israeli source told AFP.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and five ministers will make a one-day visit to Jerusalem next week, Israeli officials said.
Greek PM to visit Israel to talk energy and annexation
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Greek PM to visit Israel to talk energy and annexation
- Mitsotakis will lead the largest high-level delegation to Israel since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with six ministers in tow
- Israel, Greece and Cyprus in January signed the EastMed deal for a huge pipeline to ship gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe
Recovery of New Zealand landslide victims halted on safety concerns
- Six people, including two teenagers, are presumed dead after heavy rains triggered Thursday’s landslide at Mount Maunganui
- Authorities have been working to identify the victims after human remains were found at the site on Saturday
SYDNEY: New Zealand authorities suspended recovery efforts on Sunday for victims of a landslide that hit a busy campground on the country’s North Island.
Six people, including two teenagers, are presumed dead after heavy rains triggered Thursday’s landslide at Mount Maunganui on the island’s east coast, bringing down soil and rubble at the site in the city of Tauranga, crowded with families on summer holidays.
Authorities have been working to identify the victims after human remains were found at the site on Saturday.
But a crack found at the site prompted recovery work to cease for the day on Sunday, said police Superintendent Tim Anderson.
“As a result of that, we’ve had to pull all our staff out,” Anderson told reporters at Mount Maunganui, adding, “We’ve had to do that for the safety of everyone concerned.”
He did not specify when work would resume, saying the authorities were taking it “day by day at the moment.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Saturday it was “devastating to receive the news we have all been dreading,” after the rescue operation shifted to recovery.
“To the families who have lost loved ones — every New Zealander is grieving with you,” Luxon posted on X.
The heavy rain this week unleashed another landslide in the neighboring suburb of Papamoa, killing two.
