PARIS (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to attend a ministerial meeting to be held on Thursday in Paris with European, Arab and other states to discuss Gaza’s post-war transition, three diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.
The meeting, to be held in parallel with indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Egypt on U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, is intended to discuss how the plan would be implemented and assess countries’ collective commitments to the process.
According to a note sent to delegates, the meeting will follow up a conference on a “two-state solution” at the United Nations and is intended to agree on joint actions to make a contribution to the U.S. plan for Gaza. The two-state solution would involve an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Countries attending on Thursday will include France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Turkey and Canada.
The note had said Washington’s participation would depend on advances in the negotiations in Egypt.
A European diplomatic source said it was vital to have the United States present. An Italian diplomatic source underlined the importance of supporting Trump’s plan, which was “the only one possible”.
A French diplomatic source said the United States and Israel had been kept up to date with plans for the meeting and the agenda would include humanitarian aid for Gaza and the enclave’s reconstruction, disarmament of Hamas and support for the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian security forces.
The U.S. Embassy in Paris was not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by John Irish and Angelo Amante in Rome, Editing by Inti Landauro and Timothy Heritage)
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