United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged nations to take concrete and irreversible steps toward making a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians a reality, as preparations were underway for an upcoming international summit scheduled for June.
“I encourage Member States to go beyond affirmations, and to think creatively about the concrete steps they will take to support a viable two-state solution before it is too late,” Guterres told a session of the Security Council focused on the Middle East.
France and Saudi Arabia had announced that they would jointly lead the June conference at the United Nations.
“Our objective is clear: to make progress on the recognition of Palestine and the normalization of relations with Israel at the same time,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the Security Council.
“This is how we will be able to guarantee Israel’s security and its regional integration, whilst responding to the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians to have their own state,” he said.
Barrot also emphasized that any real advancement toward a two-state solution would require Hamas to disarm, the creation of a legitimate governing structure in Gaza that excluded Hamas, and significant reforms within the Palestinian Authority.
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu had reiterated on several occasions that Israel would not permit the Palestinian Authority to have any role in administering the Gaza Strip. In a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier in the month, he also stated that creating a Palestinian state would be a “huge prize for terror.”
{Matzav.com Israel}