Response to interpellation 2024/25:461 on the development of Västbanken
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerned the situation in the West Bank and the government's actions. M stated that there is great concern regarding Israel's military operations, settler violence, and the expansion of settlements which violate international law 1. M emphasized that Sweden and the EU strive for a two-state solution and that the government has pushed for sanctions against extremist settlers 2. M also pointed out that the government allocated funds for humanitarian aid in Gaza and the West Bank 3. S criticized the government for passivity in the face of ethnic cleansing and for undermining the two-state solution by withdrawing support for UNRWA 4 5. S argued that the government has not acted concretely despite warnings 5. S suggested, among other things, that Sweden should pause the association agreement with Israel and resume support for UNRWA 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! Ola Möller has asked me in what way I intend to act to prevent further escalation of Israel.
The Government views with great concern the serious developments on the West Bank with Israel's expanded military operations in the northern parts as well as the settler violence, the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and demolitions of Palestinian homes. It is central that Israel ensures that all use of power is in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights, and that deaths are investigated and accountability is ensured. The Government has been – and will remain – clear that the settlements and settlement policy violate international law, undermine the two-state solution and contribute to an elevated level of conflict.
Sweden's and the EU's position remains firm. A pre-negotiated two-state solution based on international law was needed with the aim of achieving a just and sustainable peace where Israel and Palestine can live side by side in peace and security.
Ola Möller (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister for Foreign Affairs! I usually marvel at how one can use so many letters to say so little. That is how it usually is when the Minister for Foreign Affairs answers questions in this chamber, especially regarding Palestine. But this time, it is probably some kind of record. The question concerned how the Minister intends to act, and the answer is in plain text: not at all.
The situation in the West Bank is acute, and for the first time in two decades, Israeli tanks are rolling there again. Settler violence has escalated, and there is practically impunity for the settlers' abuses. The weapons that were placed in the hands of the settlers by the minister Ben-Gvir are now being used for what they are intended for, namely to kill and displace Palestinians from their homes.
There are 40,000 refugees on the West Bank. I have already previously warned that ethnic cleansing is taking place on the West Bank. I did so from the rostrum over a year ago. Since then, it has only accelerated. Thousands of new homes in new colonies have been approved by Israel. The living environments for the Palestinians continue to be destroyed – all to displace the population and make a cohesive Palestinian state impossible.
In this context, one must also, of course, mention the abuses against the population in Gaza. Electricity has been shut off, and this affects fundamental functions such as the water supply for the civilian population, a civilian population that today is being used by Israel as a battering ram, with suffering and death, in the negotiations. This is happening in a way that, of course, violates both international law and the laws of war.
In all of this, the EU stands completely helpless. And since the Swedish government is completely lost in foreign policy when the USA is now going bananas, to put it mildly, and the EU is unable to stand up for what is right, the passivity in the face of the abuses becomes total.
Therefore, I would like to ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Madam Speaker, if she means that the EU's measures are effective and sufficient to stop the murder and the ethnic cleansing that is ongoing in the West Bank.
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! The Government views with great concern the developments on the West Bank with Israel's expanded military operations in the northern parts in order to combat terrorist organizations such as Hamas. Israel's actions in occupied territory must be in accordance with international humanitarian law.
We, together with the EU, urge Israel to fulfill these obligations and ensure the protection of all civilians and unimpeded humanitarian access and to allow displaced persons to safely return to their homes.
Israel's settlement policy continues and the expansion of the settlements likewise, as does the violence from extremist settlers in the West Bank including East Jerusalem. The EU has repeatedly condemned Israel's expansive settlement policy and urged Israel to cease demolitions. Sweden stands behind this. I personally raised the issue of settler violence with Israel at the EU-Israel Association Council on 24 February.
The EU has introduced sanctions against extremist settlers within the global sanctions regime for human rights. The Government has been and continues to be a driving force for these sanctions and for restrictive measures against further extremist settlers.
The Government also fully supports the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion, which was issued on 19 July last year. The opinion is a detailed account of international law conditions regarding the occupied Palestinian territory.
Neither Sweden nor the EU has recognized the occupation as legal or recognized the annexation of East Jerusalem. The EU and its member states also do not recognize any changes to the 1967 borders that the parties have not agreed upon.
The EU has expressed support for the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. In other crucial parts, the advisory opinion also aligns with the EU's policy, for example, when it concerns the fact that the settlements violate international law.
Sweden and the EU support the International Criminal Court's important work against impunity for the most serious international crimes and safeguard its independence and integrity. Both the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice have ongoing investigations concerning the current situation.
I want to emphasize in this context that the responsibility for the escalated situation in Israel and the war in Gaza also rests heavily on Hamas, which, during the terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, against Israel, killed more than 1,000 people and took over 200 civilians as hostages.
Ola Möller (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister for Foreign Affairs! It is exactly as it usually is: One has condemned, warned or spoken out but not acted concretely.
A clear contradiction in the Minister for Foreign Affairs' speech is the fact that the Minister for Foreign Affairs cannot answer whether Sweden would extradite the wanted persons in the Israeli government if they were to set foot in Sweden. The Minister for Foreign Affairs knows that it would require a government decision, but she cannot answer whether the government would make such a decision.
It is also strange that one has succumbed to passivity from the government's side when it comes to precisely the ICJ's advisory opinion.
It is clear in the genocide convention that we must do everything in our power to stop an ongoing genocide, if that is what it is. That is for the court to decide. But that ethnic cleansing is taking place is quite clear. It is a displacement of the Palestinian people from the West Bank.
What the government is actively doing is that, instead of taking the side of the occupied, it chooses to support the occupier's agenda by withdrawing support for UNRWA. If one can understand anything about the situation in the Middle East, one realizes what consequences this can have. UNRWA does not only act in Gaza or the West Bank. They perform enormously important efforts in other countries, for example Lebanon. Should UNRWA disappear, the situation in these countries would be enormously destabilized. The risks in this are enormous.
We see how the development has been in the last few days in Syria, where Alawites are being murdered just because they are Alawites. We know that Kurds are being murdered just because they are Kurds. We know that Palestinians – we have seen that for a long time – are being murdered just because they are Palestinians. And so that there is no doubt: Israelis are being murdered just because they are Israelis.
All of this is completely unacceptable and must, of course, be condemned. But the killing will not become any less because the Palestinian people are left to their fate in the hands of Israel – on the contrary. Security and safety in the region cannot be built on punishing out the Palestinian people. That Hamas must be stopped is perfectly clear. We have agreed on that for a long time, and it is what we continue to agree on. But Hamas has practically not existed in the West Bank. The argument about stopping Hamas cannot be applied to what has happened, and what is now happening, in the West Bank. There is also the party that Israel so eagerly seeks in terms of discussing peace and a two-state solution moving forward. By undermining UNRWA, one also undermines the two-state solution. There, the government is particularly active – to speak of activity.
In light of this, I would like to ask if the Minister for Foreign Affairs can justify why the government here in Sweden chooses to punish the Palestinians – all Palestinians – for what Hamas has committed.
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! I am glad that Ola Möller raises precisely Sweden's aid to Palestine, because the overall direction of Swedish aid to Palestine is to contribute to a peaceful development by promoting the long-term conditions for a negotiated two-state solution in accordance with international law. And Sweden supports programs, organizations, and activities that contribute to an international civil presence on the West Bank. Furthermore, Sweden is a major core donor to several international organizations. Through the aid, the Swedish civil presence in the EU's crisis management operation Eupol Copps is also financed.
The government's work on the development side in the West Bank is robust. We want to support economic development, democracy, and above all, institution-building. To meet the most acute needs in the West Bank, where one million people are in need of support according to the UN's appeal, the government contributes core funding to several humanitarian organizations operating on the ground. The government also decided in December to allocate 800 million kronor to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the region. The government has now decided on a first payment of these funds amounting to 300 million kronor.
The support package aims, among other things, to support efforts for health and medical care, sexual and reproductive health and rights, food distribution, as well as protection and emergency housing in Palestine. In this way, the government, in ongoing dialogue with its partners, can ensure that the Swedish support is designed in the best way to alleviate the suffering of distressed civilians and meet the enormous and urgent needs both in Gaza and in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as in the region as a whole. I agree with Ola Möller that it is important to see the needs of the entire region.
Ola Möller (S)
Madam Speaker! It becomes a bit comical in this debate when the Minister for Foreign Affairs tries to portray it as if the aid to Palestine has been handled in a wise manner, considering that UNRWA is the actor that all UN bodies say is best suited and actually the only actor that can fulfill the task. And the question is so much larger than just the individual humanitarian support. We have, for example, the companion program, which is being devastated and which has been a protection for the Palestinians in the West Bank. The government's policy has meant that this is essentially being shut down. It becomes hypocrisy.
Unfortunately, the EU's voice has also been significantly weakened since Josep Borrell, who was exemplary in his clarity, left.
It is also the case that Sweden continues to export red dot sights to Israel, which are used by the IDF.
We should receive patients from Gaza and now also the West Bank to support and help the Palestinian people, because the healthcare is bombed out in Gaza and severely substandard in the West Bank. We should obviously resume and strengthen the support to UNRWA to continue trying to build on a two-state solution and give the Palestinian people opportunities for life. We should pause the association agreement between the EU and Israel until it is fulfilled, because it states that human rights and international law and the like shall be accepted. We should not take in wines from occupied areas at Systembolaget. Above all, we should not serve them at public events here in the Riksdag.
But I know that the government has abandoned international law and international law in this issue. The ten-thousand-kronor question to the minister then becomes whether she can imagine speculating on how the military affair on the West Bank will proceed. Is there any option regarding the Israeli army's withdrawal, and is there any course of development in this issue that the minister sees ahead?
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! The Government, like the EU and large parts of the international community, is convinced that a sustainable peace between Israel and Palestine must be based on a two-state solution. The Government supports the EU's and the UN's work to achieve a credible process for a two-state solution and is also in close contact with like-minded individuals and representatives for the region.
I have, for example, had meetings with foreign minister colleagues from Israel and Palestine but also Jordan and Egypt to convey our view but also to take part in their assessments. The question also stands almost constantly on the agenda for the EU's ministerial meetings on the foreign side.
The Government also supports the work to reform and strengthen the Palestinian Authority. Through the aid, opportunities are created to provide support for a long-term sustainable two-state solution and to counter violence-promoting extremism. Joint diplomatic efforts, including with regional actors, are and remain important to counter further escalations. The Government will continue to work for a two-state solution and do so together with others.
I want to return to what Ola Möller said initially. He criticized my answer – he meant that it was not sufficiently detailed. A tip for Ola Möller could then be that he can put a little more effort into his interpellation rather than just writing three sentences, because then it is also easier for me to answer in detail.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.