ATHENS

Italy will propose a plan for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Wednesday.

“In September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Italy will propose, as rotating the president of the G7, a plan for not only humanitarian but political and economic reconstruction of Gaza,” he told the Italian newspaper, La Stampa. “Italy is ready to send a contingent to work during the transition that will have to be managed by the UN and led by Arab countries and will eventually lead to an independent Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank.”

He maintained, however, that the sole Palestinian interlocutor is the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank.

“We are in favor of the independent Palestine. But we need to offer a concrete perspective to the Palestinian people. How can we recognize a state while there is Hamas which controls a large part of Palestine and claims to want to destroy Israel? Others have recognized it, and what has changed,” he said.

Tajani also emphasized that Rome is working to bring Israel to the negotiation table to end its current onslaught immediately and for the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.

“Well, we don't want to give Israel a moral slap in the face at this moment, but we want to bring them to a negotiation to make the Two Peoples, Two States formula concrete. The Italian position is clear: We are with Israel. However, as their friend, we urge Israel to respect international law,” he said.

Fears have grown about a full-blown war between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran, especially with Hezbollah threatening military retaliation after the assassination of a top commander in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on July 30 and Tel Aviv killing Hama’s political bureau chief on Iranian soil.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of an Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which has killed nearly 40,000 victims since October following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.​​​​​​​