Antonio Guterres calls for ‘a decisive turning point’ at international conference boycotted by the US and Israel.
Dozens of ministers have gathered at a United Nations conference to urge the world to work towards a two-state solution between Israelis and the Palestinians, but the United States and Israel have boycotted the event.
The 193-member UN General Assembly decided in September last year that such a conference would be held in 2025.
Hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, the conference was postponed in June after Israel attacked Iran.
Addressing the attendees on Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud urged all countries to support the conference goal of a roadmap laying out the parameters to a Palestinian state while ensuring Israel’s security.
In opening remarks, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “We must ensure that it does not become another exercise in well-meaning rhetoric.
“It can and must serve as a decisive turning point – one that catalyses irreversible progress towards ending the occupation and realising our shared aspiration for a viable two-state solution.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the conference: “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 jeopardising the stability and security of the entire region.
“Only a political, two-state solution will help respond to the legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security. There is no alternative.”
France intends to recognise a Palestinian state in September at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron said last week.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa called on all countries to “recognise the state of Palestine without delay”.
“All states have a responsibility to act now,” said Mustafa at the start of the meeting.
The meeting comes as Israel’s war on Gaza still rages after more than 21 months.
The war was triggered in October 2023 when Hamas led an attack on southern Israel, killing at least 1,139 and seizing more than 200 others as captives, according to Israeli statistics.
Since then, Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to health authorities in the besieged territory.
Israel, US boycott meeting
Despite growing international pressure on Israel to end its war, Israel and the US were not taking part in the meeting.
The US State Department said the three-day event was “unproductive and ill-timed,” as well as a “publicity stunt” that would make finding peace harder.
The diplomatic push is a “reward for terrorism”, it said in a statement, and it also called the promise to recognise a Palestinian state by Macron “counterproductive.”
Speaking to reporters later on Monday, Prince Faisal called for US President Donald Trump’s involvement in resolving the ongoing conflict.
“I’m firmly in the belief that the US engagement, especially the engagement of President Trump, can be a catalyst for an end to the immediate crisis in Gaza and potentially a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the long term,” he told reporters.
Marwan Bishara, media’s senior political analyst, said that the regional powers appeared to have limited influence over the situation in Gaza.
“The Saudis, Egyptians, Jordanians and others are all incapable of affecting the situation,” he said. “They are weak and cannot do anything themselves about what is going on in Gaza.”
The UN has long endorsed a vision of two states side by side within secure and recognised borders.
Palestinians want a state in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war with neighbouring Arab states.
The UN General Assembly in May last year overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognising it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favourably”.
The resolution garnered 143 votes in favour 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 recognise a Palestinian state – after the US vetoed it in the UN Security Council several weeks earlier.
