In the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Croatia supports the solution on two states in which both peoples can accomplish their national aspirations, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman told the state news agency Hina on Friday during a visit to Lisbon.

“As regards the Middle East peace process, Croatia supports a… solution that guarantees security to Israel as the state of the Jewish people in peaceful coexistence with its neighbours, and that guarantees Palestinians sustainability in their own state and homeland,” said Grlic-Radman.

“We believe that it would contribute to securing a lasting peace and stability in the Middle East,” he added.

The UN has proposed, as a permanent solution to the Middle East conflict, a solution envisaging two states, Israel and Palestine, with borders as existed in 1967, but Israel has been refusing the proposal and has continued building settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, thus preventing an agreement on the matter.

Grlic-Radman took part in Lisbon in an informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU’s 27 member-states, which was joined by Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. A week ago, speaking in the UN, Safadi said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would not end as long as Palestine was occupied.

“This was a truly constructive dialogue. Jordan is our partner and ally in the Middle East. We very much appreciate its efforts in providing for Syrian and Palestinian refugees,” the Croatian minister said.

“We discussed the strengthening of cooperation and the latest escalation of conflicts between the Israelis and Palestinians and efforts to restore the peace process. We thanked Jordan for its efforts regarding the ceasefire agreement as well as for continuing to advocate the status quo as a guardian of holy sites in Jerusalem,” said Grlic-Radman.

A week ago a ceasefire was agreed between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The conflict erupted after access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem was restricted for believers and after an attempt was made to evict Palestinian families from their homes in that occupied part of the city.

The EU supports a comprehensive peace agreement between the two sides based on the two-state solution and in line with international parameters. Those parameters were confirmed by the EU in the Council of the EU conclusions of July 2014, said Grlic-Radman.