Guterres says support for two states must turn into action — Anadolu Agency
In Turkey, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that international support for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians must move from words to practical action. He said this on September 23 during a ministerial meeting on the two-state solution and a comprehensive peace plan for Gaza on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, Anadolu Agency reports.
Guterres' statement
According to the UN secretary-general, despite expanding diplomatic support for such a settlement, developments in the occupied West Bank and Gaza are actively undermining the possibility of its implementation. Guterres said that the conditions for establishing an independent, democratic, territorially contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian state are being “systematically erased.”
He linked this to Israel's aggressive actions and attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Guterres called the expansion of the Israeli occupation a clear violation of international law and expressed concern over planned construction projects in the strategic E1 corridor in the occupied West Bank. According to him, advancing these projects would deal a “fatal blow” to the prospects of establishing a territorially contiguous and viable Palestinian state.
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Guterres stressed that lasting peace requires the existence of two states within recognized borders based on the pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem as the shared capital of both peoples. He added that there is no alternative to this and that time for such a solution is running out.
European Council's position
European Council President António Costa said at the meeting that practical progress has stalled despite a broad international consensus. He recalled that the New York Declaration on the two-state solution was supported by 142 countries together with UN Security Council Resolution 2803, but the situation on the ground has changed little over the past year.
Costa called for the immediate implementation of the international roadmap for Gaza, noting that it is threatened every day in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. According to him, preserving the path to peace requires urgent collective action to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian state that will coexist safely with Israel.
