Vivian on visit to Palestinian territories, Israel, Egypt, Gulf states

Foreign Minister accompanied by five MPs on latest leg of Middle East working trip

- Kok Yufeng

AMMAN, Jordan - Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will visit the Palestinian territories, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Saudi Arabia from March 18 to March 24, as he continues his working visit to the Middle East.

For this leg of the trip, he will be accompanied by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials and five MPs - Mr Alex Yam, Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin, Ms Rachel Ong and Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim from the ruling People's Action Party, and Workers' Party MP Gerald Giam.

The five MPs were in Amman, the capital of Jordan, on March 17, and they witnessed the presentation of a $6.1 million cheque to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the main UN aid agency in Gaza.

The funds are part of a record $8.1 million raised by Singapore charity Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation (RLAF) in late 2023 to provide relief and shelter to communities in the embattled Palestinian enclave.

An earlier tranche of $2 million was handed to UNRWA in November 2023.

The MPs also joined Singaporean students in Amman for iftar the meal which breaks the daytime fast of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.

"This is not a happy time," said Dr Balakrishnan in a speech during the iftar meal, as he addressed questions posed to him by the students, including queries about his thoughts on the Israel-Palestine conflict.