UN conference backs two-state solution, calls on Israel to commit to a Palestinian state
UNITED NATIONS AP High-level representatives at a U N conference on Tuesday urged Israel to commit to a Palestinian state and gave unwavering encouragement to a two-state cure signaling widespread international determination to end one of the world s longest conflicts The New York Declaration sets out a phased plan to end the nearly eight-decade conflict and the ongoing war in Gaza The plan would culminate with an independent demilitarized Palestine living side by side peacefully with Israel and the nation s eventual integration into the wider Mideast region The two-day meeting which ends Tuesday is taking place amid the latest reports that starvation and famine are taking place in Gaza and growing global outrage at Palestinians not getting food due to Israeli policies and practices which Israel denies Israel rejects the notion of two states Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes a two-state fix and has rejected the meeting on both nationalistic and protection grounds Its close ally the United States is also boycotting calling the meeting unproductive and ill-timed The conference which was postponed from June and downgraded from world leaders to ministers for the first time established eight high-level working groups to examine and make proposals on wide-ranging topics related to a two-state remedy The declaration s plan says conference co-chairs France and Saudi Arabia the European Union and Arab League and countries that led the working groups agreed to take collective action to end the war in Gaza Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan urged the rest of the U N member nations to encouragement this document before the start of the th session of the U N General Assembly in mid-September The declaration condemns the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians in southern Israel on Oct It marks a first condemnation by Arab nations of Hamas whose attacks killed about mainly Israeli civilians and whose militants took about people hostage Particular are still being held The declaration condemns Israeli attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and its siege and starvation which have produced a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection emergency Israel s ongoing offensive against Hamas has killed over Palestinians according to the Gaza Healthcare Ministry which doesn t distinguish between civilians and combatants Plan would give Palestinian Authority governing power The conference plan envisions the Palestinian Authority governing and controlling all Palestinian territory with a transitional administrative committee directly established under its umbrella after a ceasefire in Gaza It also supports deployment of a temporary international stabilization mission operating under U N auspices to protect Palestinian civilians sponsorship the transfer of defense to the Palestinian Authority and provide measure guarantees for Palestine and Israel including monitoring of the ceasefire and of a future peace agreement The declaration calls for countries to recognize the state of Palestine calling this an essential and indispensable component of the achievement of the two-state explanation Without naming Israel but clearly referring to it the document says illegal unilateral actions are posing an existential threat to the realization of the independent state of Palestine French President Emmanuel Macron informed ahead of the meeting that his country will recognize the state of Palestine at the General Assembly s meeting of world leaders in late September The French Foreign Ministry on Tuesday pushed back on Israeli states that recognition of Palestine would reward Hamas saying that on the contrary it has contributed to isolating Hamas United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer revealed Tuesday that Britain would recognize the state of Palestine ahead of September s high-level meeting but would refrain if Israel agrees to a ceasefire and long-term peace process in the next eight weeks The countries are now the biggest Western powers and the only two members of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations to make such a pledge Source
