Saudi and French foreign ministers on Monday opened a two-day UN meeting on a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict, highlighting what they called “a growing international consensus” for a non-military solution to the decades-long conflict.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah called it a “historic stage” to not only end the conflict but also to advance a two-state solution.
The Kingdom believes that the two-state solution is key to stability in the region, he told the conference.
Stability in the region can be achieved once the Palestinian people are granted their rights, he went on to say.
He also hailed French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement last week that he intends to recognize the state of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot noted the large attendance reflected global consensus to end the war in Gaza.
“We must work on the ways and means to go from the end of the war in Gaza to the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at a time when this war is jeopardizing the stability and security of the entire region,” he stressed.
Barrot told newspaper La Tribune Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday that he will use the conference this week to push other countries to join France in recognizing a Palestinian state.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa called on all countries to “recognize the state of Palestine without delay,” adding: “The path to peace starts with recognizing the state of Palestine and preserving it from destruction.”
“The rights of all peoples must be respected, the sovereignty of all states must be ensured. Palestine, and its people can no longer be the exception,” he told the conference.
While the Palestinian prime minister was present, Israel sent no delegation to engage with peace proposals or represent its position.
“The Palestinians are ready to negotiate today,” Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, said. “But we do not have an Israeli partner to negotiate with.”
He added that since the Israelis “are not willing to sit at the table and negotiate a two state solution,” then “they cannot veto us from doing what we all believe in and recognize the Palestinian state as a statement of commitment to that solution.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the conference the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict is “farther than ever before.”
He pointed to the starvation of Palestinians and the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza, as well as Israel’s relentless expansion of settlements in the West Bank and last week’s support in Israel’s parliament for its annexation.
Guterres said actions “that would forever undermine the two-state solution” must stop.
The conference “can and must serve as a decisive turning point - one that catalyzes irreversible progress towards ending the occupation and realizing our shared aspiration for a viable two-state solution.”
The UN has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war with neighboring Arab states.
The UN General Assembly in May last year overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably.” The resolution garnered 143 votes in favor and nine against.
The General Assembly vote was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member - a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state - after the US vetoed it in the UN Security Council several weeks earlier.
