Austrian representative office Ramallah

Austrian representative office Ramallah foreign office
State level	Federation
position	Subordinate agency
At sight	Foreign Ministry : Austrian Development Agency
founding	1998
Headquarters	Ramallah , Al-Bireh , VIP Center, 100 Al-Kawthar Street ⊙ Coordinates: 31 ° 54 ′ 51 ″  N , 35 ° 12 ′ 39 ″  E
management	Astrid Wein
Employee	4th
Website	on www.entwicklung.at

The Austrian Representation Office Ramallah is Austria's foreign representation in the Palestinian Autonomous Territories .

history

Austria has a traditionally close relationship with the Palestinian territories. Bruno Kreisky , long-time Federal Chancellor, was head of the delegation of the Socialist International in the Middle East from 1974 , where he met Yasser Arafat , leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization , which at that time was just beginning to transform itself from a terrorist organization in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a state-political movement . That year the PLO received observer status at the UN. The Tunis embassy in Tunisia was responsible.

In 1977, at the invitation of the Kreisky government - the first in a Western European country - an official representation of the PLO was opened in Vienna (today representation of Palestine in Austria ). In 1980 Austria under Kreisky was the first country in the world to recognize the PLO as the legitimate political representative of the Palestinians, to promote the Middle East peace process through dialogue in the spirit of Austria's neutrality . This was also sharply criticized internationally at the time, but was ultimately a significant step towards recognition as a subject of international law and the Oslo peace process . Austria maintained relations with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority  ( Palestinian Authority PA or Palestinian National Authority PNA), which replaced the PLO as a recognized agency in 1994.

In 1998, the Republic of Austria then set up a climate under Federal Chancellor “with a view to becoming a state of Palestine”. an official representation in Ramallah in the West Bank , as the location of Austrian development  cooperation (ADC).

The Palestinian territories are still a priority region for Austrian development cooperation. Austria continues to pursue the goal of the two-state solution, in accordance with the current view of the international community and the Road Map (PEGASE, 2008) and the EU Action Strategy (2013).

organization

The office of the Austrian Development Agency is subordinate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (currently BMEIA). It is located in the VIP Center (Al-Kawthar Street) in Al-Bireh in Ramallah in the West Bank.

Astrid Wein is the office manager (as of 2019).

Agendas

ADC supports the Palestinian Authority "in building efficient, democratically legitimized and controlled institutions of a future cohesive, sovereign, democratic state"

One of the more important concerns is the maintenance of the water supply, along with the UNDP development program : this is one of the main humanitarian problems in the Palestine conflict. There is also close cooperation with the UN Aid Organization for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA , Permanent Representation of Austria at the Amman Embassy ). Austria has financially supported the UNRWA health program since 2011. Together with the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, the first medical center for diseases of civilization and preventive health care was set up, and a system of family doctors (family doctors) helped to set up.

The office also functions as a diplomatic liaison office, Austria has not accredited an ambassador to the Palestinian Authority due to the EU's wait-and-see attitude towards the proclamation of a state of Palestine.

Web links

• Palestinian territories. Austrian Development Cooperation Portal (Entwicklung.at)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} employees. Palestine: Ramallah and Gaza . Website of the Austrian Development Agency, accessed on November 3, 2019.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Austria - Palestine. Representation of the State of Palestine in Austria, palestinemission.at, accessed February 10, 2016.
3. ↑ ^{a b} A chancellor between diplomacy and terror. science.ORF.at, Contemporary History , October 28, 2010;
   How Bruno Kreisky made the PLO socially acceptable. In: der Standard online, February 24, 2012;
   Wolfgang Benedek: The recognition of the PLO by Austria. In: Journal for Foreign Public Law and Völkerrecht 40, 1980, 4 b, pp. 841–857 ( Article (PDF) , zaoerv.de);
   Helmut Tichy: The recognition of the PLO by Austria as a constitutional problem. In: Austrian Journal for Public Law and Völkerrecht Vol. 33.1982, 1/2, pp. 53–73.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Palestine has had an ambassador to Austria since 2011 , the position is called the Representation of the State of Palestine in Austria , the area of ​​responsibility also includes Montenegro, and since 2014 Slovenia. The ambassador is (as of 2016) Salah Abdel-Shafi .
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Palestinian Territories. entwicklung.at, accessed February 12, 2016.
6. ^ EU Neighborhood Policy: Palestine. ec.europa.eu; EU Relations with Palestine eeas.europa.eu (both accessed February 13, 2016).
7. ↑ There you can also find the liaison offices of Malta ( Representative Office of Malta foreignaffairs.gov.mt) and Ukraine ( on embassy-finder.com ); see also Representative Offices - Ramallah , list on pstta.org.ps.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Foreign Minister Kurz visits Ramallah. Developement.at → News , undated (April 2014).
9. ↑ Development cooperation is important because ... ( Memento from February 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Statement by Riham Kharroub, Austrian Development Cooperation Office, Entwicklungs.at → Our voices for development , undated