Fired by France's imminent recognition of Palestinian statehood, UN members begin a two-day conference Monday in New York to breathe life into the push for a two-state solution. However, neither Israel nor the US are expected to attend.
The conference on fostering Israeli and Palestinian states living peacefully side-by-side is to be co-chaired by Paris and Riyadh.
Originally scheduled for June, it was postponed due to security and logistical issues during the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran.
The meeting comes just days after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would formally recognise the State of Palestine in September.
His declaration "will breathe new life into a conference that seemed destined to irrelevance," said Richard Gowan, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.
"Macron's announcement changes the game. Other participants will be scrabbling to decide if they should also declare an intent to recognise Palestine."
France defends move to recognise Palestinian state
According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states – including France – now recognise the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.
In 1947, a resolution of the UN General Assembly decided on the partition of Palestine, then under a British mandate, into two independent states – one Jewish and the other Arab.
The following year, the State of Israel was proclaimed, and for several decades, the vast majority of UN member states have supported the idea of a two-state solution: Israeli and Palestinian, living side-by-side peacefully and securely.
But after more than 21 months of war in Gaza, the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and senior Israeli officials declaring designs to annex occupied territory, it is feared a Palestinian state could be geographically impossible.
The war in Gaza started following a deadly attack on 7 October 2023 by Hamas on Israel, which responded with a large-scale military response that has claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian lives.
The New York conference is a response to the crisis, with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and several dozen ministers from around the world expected to attend.
What is the two-state solution?
'No alternative'
The meeting comes as a two-state solution is "more threatened than it has ever been (but) even more necessary than before, because we see very clearly that there is no alternative," said a French diplomatic source.
Beyond facilitating conditions for recognition of a Palestinian state, the meeting will have three other focuses – reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Palestinian public life, and normalisation of relations with Israel by Arab states that have not yet done so.
The diplomatic source warned that no announcement of new normalisation deals was expected during the conference.
On Friday, Britain said it would not recognise a Palestinian state unilaterally and would wait for "a wider plan" for peace in the region.
Macron has also not yet persuaded Germany to follow suit and recognise a Palestinian state in the short term.
The conference "offers a unique opportunity to transform international law and the international consensus into an achievable plan and to demonstrate resolve to end the occupation and conflict once and for all, for the benefit of all peoples," said the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, calling for "courage" from participants.
However, Israel and the United States will not attend the meeting.
Jonathan Harounoff, a spokesperson for Israel's ambassador to the UN, said the conference "doesn't first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages".
As international pressure continues to mount on Israel to end nearly two years of war in Gaza, the humanitarian catastrophe in the coastal territory is expected to dominate speeches by representatives of more than 100 countries as they take to the podium from Monday to Wednesday.
On Sunday, the Israeli military began limited pauses in fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day – part of measures including airdrops as concerns grow over surging hunger in the enclave.
Food airdropped into Gaza as Israel says opening aid routes
(with AFP)
