UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a ministerial high level meeting during a United Nations conference on a two state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, at UN headquarters. AFP
The three-day meeting, mandated by the UN General Assembly, includes plenary sessions, working groups, and high-level interventions by senior UN officials and Member States.
Participants are discussing a proposed framework for a future Palestinian state, encompassing economic, political, and security dimensions. Specific working groups are focusing on sovereignty, reconstruction, regional security, and upholding international law.
Key speakers at the opening included Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Mustafa — all of whom underscored the urgent need to reestablish a path toward a two-state solution.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s long-standing position, calling the establishment of an independent Palestinian state “the true key to achieving peace in the region.” He reiterated Saudi support for the Arab Peace Initiative adopted at the 2002 Beirut Summit, describing it as “a comprehensive foundation for any just and inclusive peaceful solution.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot declared that “there is no alternative” to a two-state solution. “Only a political, two-state solution will help respond to the legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security,” he said.
Days before the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he would formally recognize a Palestinian state in September.
France is hoping that Britain will take this step. More than 200 British members of parliament voiced their support for the idea on Friday. Still, Prime Minister Keir Starmer claimed that recognition of a Palestinian state "must be part of a wider plan."
Barrot also condemned attacks on civilians in Gaza, stating, “Eighty years after the creation of the United Nations, we cannot accept that civilians—women and children—are being targeted while crowding around food distribution centers. This is unacceptable.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued his starkest warning yet, stating, “The truth is we are at a breaking point. The two-state solution is farther than ever before.”
“Nothing can justify the obliteration of Gaza that has unfolded before the eyes of the world,” Guterres said, denouncing what he described as collective punishment and illegal annexation. “Let’s be clear: the creeping annexation of the occupied West Bank is illegal — it must stop. The wholesale destruction of Gaza is intolerable — it must stop.”
He reiterated that the two-state solution remains “the only framework rooted in international law, endorsed by the General Assembly, and supported by the international community.”
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Mustafa called the conference “a message to the Palestinian people — that the world supports our right to life, liberty, dignity, our land, and our right to a sovereign state.”
“We must act to reunify Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with no occupation, no siege, no forcible displacement, and no annexation,” he said.
The concept of a two-state solution dates back decades. Following the end of the British mandate, the UN’s 1947 partition plan proposed dividing the land into separate Jewish and Arab states. However, only Israel was proclaimed.
In 1967, Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem — the territories intended to comprise a future Palestinian state under UN Security Council Resolution 242, which also affirms the right of Palestinians to return to their lands after being expelled by Zionist mobs in successive waves since 1947.
Notably, Israel and its close ally, the United States, are boycotting the meeting.
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