Tel Aviv [Israel], May 4 (ANI/TPS): Cyprus can become a bridge between Israelis and Palestinians, according to the President of Cyprus Nicos Christodoulides, who is paying a one-day working visit to Israel and Ramallah on Sunday.
Nicos Christodoulides arrived late, as at the very moment he was preparing to depart from Cyprus the missile strike against Israel by the Houthis in Yemen took place. However, he left eventually refusing to cancel his trip, something that Israeli President Isaac Herzog made a special mentioned too, thanking the Cypriot President publicly. “You are showing extraordinary resilience, friendship and solidarity, and we greatly appreciate it. We always remember our friends,” President Herzog underlined.
The President of Israel welcomed his counterpart and expressed his gratitude to the Cypriot Government for the assistance provided in the efforts to extinguish the recent fires in Israel. He referred to the attacks on Israel and the current situation in the country and the region, stressing the need for international efforts on the humanitarian issue of the release of hostages by Hamas.
He also congratulated President Christodoulides on Cyprus assuming the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2026. He went on to say that “Cyprus is one of Israel’s closest friends”,.
For his part, the President of the Republic of Cyprus congratulated the President of Israel and the people of Israel on the occasion of Israel’s National Day, adding that Cyprus is a reliable and predictable neighbor, working for greater cooperation with other states, but also for the further exploitation of the enormous potential of the region for the benefit of the peoples and states of the Middle East and the wider Eastern Mediterranean.
It is worth mentioning that upon his arrival at the Israeli Presidential Palace for his meeting with his Israeli counterpart, the President of Cyprus was confronted by demonstrators supporting Simon Aykout, an Israeli citizen with dual Turkish nationality who is being held in Cyprus for misappropriation of Greek Cypriot property in the occupied territories.
The Cypriot leader then met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. “I am very happy to welcome President Nikos Christodoulides back to Israel. There is a long friendship between Cyprus and Israel,” said the PM.
“Our region is in the process of enormous change. Our actions in the war have changed many things on the map of the Middle East, but we are still threatened by radical forces from many directions”, he stressed and explained that “one of the ideas we talked about is IMEC – a revolutionary project that we want to establish. I spoke about it with Mr. Modi, the Prime Minister of India, just a few days ago. We want to start a joint discussion with them. We also want to hold a tripartite conference in Israel between Israel, Cyprus and Greece. We have done this over the years, we want to renew it as soon as possible, and that is one of the things we will do”.
Regarding the trade routes, of course we and the whole world are threatened by the Houthis, PM Netanyahu underlined, “including the evil attack they carried out today near Ben-Gurion Airport. We will not tolerate this, we will take very strong counter-action against them, and we will always remember that they acted on the instructions and with the support of their patron – Iran”. And added that Israel “will do what needs to be done to ensure our security, to respond effectively, and to send a proper warning to Iran that we cannot tolerate such a thing.”
Speaking to TPS-IL The Press Service of Israel, the Cypriot President said he would convey one message to both sides. That, regardless of any differences in approach, issues such as hostages and humanitarian aid must be kept outside the strict political framework. We have some ideas, some suggestions on how to move forward and that will be the focus of my contacts, he added.
With regard to his statement that Cyprus could become a bridge between Israelis and Palestinians, President Christodoulides recalled that Cyprus had already served as a bridge in the past, with the Amalthea Plan for Gaza. President Christodoulides emphasized that Cyprus is a country that maintains close relations with all its neighbors while also being a member of the European Union, and that in the first half of 2026 it will assume the Presidency of the European Union. I am confident, said the President of Cyprus, that with the ideas we will put on the table, if the necessary will is present, we can achieve positive developments on humanitarian issues in this undoubtedly negative environment in the region.
Nikos Christodoulides noted that there are currently 110 flights a week between the two countries. This is by far the highest number of flights from any country to Cyprus, he explained.
The President’s first meeting upon his arrival in Jerusalem was with relatives of hostages in Gaza. He stressed that no parent or any family member should have to endure the ordeal that the families of the hostages have been subjected to for the past 576 days, waiting to learn the fate of their loved ones and their return. Cypriots know this in their hearts, he said, recalling the cases of more than a thousand people missing since the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974. All remaining hostages must be released immediately, he stressed. (ANI/TPS)
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