The historic event, The High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, comes amid growing regional and international recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on the June 1967 borders.
The conference, which will be attended by dozens of world leaders, comes amid growing global outrage and condemnation of the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv’s increasing steps to annex the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The French decision to recognize Palestinian statehood in July prompted more Western countries to follow suit in the weeks since, including Luxembourg, Malta, Canada, Australia, and Portugal. Belgium announced its intention to recognize Palestinian statehood, but with conditions. New Zealand and Liechtenstein are expected to also formally recognize a Palestinian state on Monday.
To date, 151 UN member-states have recognized the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state.
The two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the bedrock of the US-backed peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians, ushered in by the 1993 Oslo Accords.
In the decades since, Israel has continued its occupation of Palestinian territories it seized in the 1967 war, and forged ahead with building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to effectively annex vast areas and make a two-state solution moot.
In recent years, despite previous commitments to promoting a two-state solution, the United States has all but withdrawn all pressure on Tel Aviv to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In its first and second terms, the US administration of President Donald Trump has endorsed all Israeli steps that would lead to the annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories, including recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to what could be a future city of a Palestinian state in 2017.
In 1947, the 181 resolution of the UN General Assembly decided on the partition of Palestine, then under a British mandate, into two independent states: one Arab and the other Jewish.
The UN recognized and admitted the State of Israel in May 1949, but failed to enforce its 1947 partition plan as Zionist militias drove more than 75 percent of the Arab population from their homes and land.
The right to establish a state, as enshrined in the UN Charter's principle of self-determination, "cannot be subject to Israel’s veto", and the UN has never conditioned Palestine’s existence on Israeli acceptance.
For decades, Israel, supported by the United States and Western allies, resisted all regional and international calls to implement a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
Tide shifts
On 12 September, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to back a declaration outlining “tangible, time-bound and irreversible steps” toward a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.
The text was adopted by 142 votes in favour, 10 against -- including Israel and key ally the United States -- and 12 abstentions.
Formally called the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, the text calls for "collective action to end the war in Gaza, to achieve a just, peaceful and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the effective implementation of the Two-State solution."
French officials have emphasized that the decision is not merely symbolic, but a political declaration of support for the two-state solution at a time when it risks disappearing altogether.
While the summit has generated significant momentum, especially across Europe, it faces sharp rejection from Israel and the United States, which will boycott the meeting. Israel’s UN ambassador dismissed the gathering as a “circus,” arguing that recognition undermines peace efforts, even as Israel presses ahead with its war of genocide and starvation in Gaza.
Over the weekend, the diplomatic tide visibly shifted, with multiple countries recognizing Palestine and more expected to follow suit at Monday’s conference. Still, Germany and Italy have signalled they are unlikely to join the wave, underscoring the divisions within Europe.
Meanwhile, Israel is weighing punitive measures, including annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank and targeted retaliation against France, despite warnings that such steps could alienate key Arab partners such as the United Arab Emirates.
The urgency of the summit is heightened by the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where local health authorities say more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed and 160,000 wounded, mostly women and children, since Israel launched its war on the strip.
As Israel expands its ground assault on Gaza City and settlers escalate violence in the West Bank, global pressure has mounted on world powers to act.
France said that recognition of Palestine is essential to break the deadlock, offering Palestinians hope and reinforcing international law in the face of deepening despair in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.
While recognition is unlikely to alter realities on the ground in the immediate term,
The symbolism of major Western nations formally backing Palestinian statehood at the UN carries weight, marking a turning point in global diplomacy and signalling growing international isolation for Israel’s government.
On Monday, Scotland's first minister described the UK government’s recognition of a Palestinian state as “a landmark moment”, adding there must be "follow-up action", including an end to the UK-Israel free trade agreement.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Palestinian Mission in London, John Swinney added, "There also has got to be an end to arms sales to Israel, a flow of humanitarian aid into Palestine and the release of hostages."
"There must be international solidarity with Palestine in supporting the people to be protected from this genocide and the establishment of a life of safety and security," added Swinney.
For many Palestinians, the move represents not just a political gesture but an affirmation of their right to statehood, even as the war in Gaza rages.
The Palestinian Authority and Hamas have welcomed the Western recognition of a State of Palestine as a "historic" confirmation of the just nature of the Palestinian cause.
In tandem, ahead of the conference, many people around the world pressed on with condemnation of the Israeli genocide and celebration of the recognition of a Palestinian state.
In France, 50 cities and municipalities raised the flag of the State of Palestine on their buildings. In Italy, thousands joined a day of rage against the Israeli genocide to call on their government to end diplomatic and military relations with Tel Aviv.
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