Introduction by President Meloni

I’m happy to go over this brief but I think significant visit to Jordan and Lebanon with you. As you know, I met with King Abdullah II of Jordan earlier today. I wanted to bring Italy’s solidarity and respect to a nation that objectively plays a key role in the Middle East’s stability and is proving its ability to always use pragmatism and moderation, even in this difficult phase. It is also a nation that above all plays a very important role in supporting civilians. The King of Jordan and his government are planning new and very concrete tools to help the civilian population in Gaza in particular, for which Italy has guaranteed its full support. We have, after all, already worked together on the ‘Food for Gaza’ initiative, which has allowed us to deliver 47 tonnes of food supplies to the Strip.

As well as discussing the current crisis in the broader sense, we also talked with the King of Jordan about the issue of Syrian refugees. This major issue is having a severe impact in both Jordan and Lebanon. In Jordan, there are estimated to be 600,000 Syrian refugees; 600,000 have been registered, but the Government estimates there are more or less double that, in a nation with 10 million inhabitants. In Lebanon, we are talking about approximately 1.5 million refugees in a nation with 5 million inhabitants, and this issue obviously must be addressed by the international community. Italy has already been working on the Syrian refugee issue for some time, and this was also covered during this week’s European Council meeting; we have done our best to support a process, which we are above all discussing with Jordan, that can gradually create the conditions for these refugees to be able to return to Syria, of course in a safe way, with the support of the international community and on a voluntary basis. This is undoubtedly one of the issues that must be addressed if we want to help these nations.

The Syrian refugee issue is also affecting Lebanon, as we were saying, as is the matter of displaced persons. Today, approximately one in every five people in Lebanon has been displaced. This is a very complex situation and Italy, too, has already shown its readiness to help. Right after the escalation began in Lebanon, we immediately approved an additional EUR 17 million in aid for the populations affected, for the civilian populations. More needs to be done; I believe the European level needs to be involved.
We have offered all our support on this too.

Moving on, I am proud to be the first Head of Government to have come here to Lebanon since the escalation first began. I believe this is an important signal. We clearly came here above all to reiterate Italy’s commitment to a ceasefire. As you know, Italy has been calling for a 21-day ceasefire together with other nations.

Lebanese Prime Minister Mikati and Lebanese Speaker of Parliament Berri, both of whom I spoke with today, have accepted this proposal, and I believe efforts are now needed from the Israeli side. I also believe that what happened yesterday, with the death of the main person responsible for Hamas’s attacks on 7 October last year, can offer an opportunity for a new phase, and I believe Israel should seize this opportunity. I think we can also help by intensifying our diplomatic efforts for the return of the Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas.
With that said, we obviously also came here to talk about stabilisation of the Israel-Lebanon border.

I also wanted to bring a message of solidarity to all our men and women serving on both the UNIFIL mission and the bilateral MIBIL mission. I have met and spoke with some of them today, and I would have liked to return to the UNIFIL base, which I visited a few months ago, but this was not possible for security reasons, and I do not wish to add more problems to the ones that already exist. However, we must certainly stress the importance of these military personnel who have helped guarantee security and stability along the border for a long time now, in spite of all the difficulties, and whose role will be particularly valuable when the hostilities end.

We therefore believe that UNIFIL must be strengthened, and that, without UNIFIL becoming stronger and without the work of our military personnel here – and not only ours – it will not be possible to put the Lebanese armed forces in a position to be fully able to control and defend their territory. The international community undertook this commitment in particular with Resolution 1701, which must be fully implemented. 

So, as you can see, we have discussed many issues today. Italy is certainly committed to achieving de-escalation, a ceasefire, even if only a temporary one, and the release of hostages as well as to helping the civilian populations, beginning to rebuild and envisioning also a structural solution to the Middle East crisis based on two peoples and two states; will a transitional phase or a definitive phase be needed? We need to get to work. We need to get to work and I think that all possible efforts must be made at this time. Diplomacy is our only recourse, but if we don’t manage to listen to the parties we are speaking with and have them listen to us, then diplomacy will not be possible. This is the reason why I came here today.

[Courtesy translation]