UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday warned that international support for a two-state solution must move beyond diplomatic statements, saying developments in the occupied Palestinian territories are increasingly undermining the prospect of a viable Palestinian state.
“For Palestinians and all those who care about peace in the Middle East, support for two states must go beyond words,” Guterres told a high-level ministerial meeting on the Two-State Solution and the Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York.
Guterres said the conditions needed for an independent, democratic, contiguous and sovereign Palestinian state were being systematically eroded, citing illegal Israeli settlement activity and other policies in the occupied West Bank, as well as attacks by illegal Israeli settlers.
Guterres warns of threat to Palestinian territorial continuity
The UN chief specifically raised concerns over planned construction in the illegal E1 settlement plan, a strategically important area of the occupied West Bank.
Advancing the projects, he warned, “would deal a deathblow to the prospect of a contiguous and viable Palestinian State.”
Guterres said the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements constitutes a violation of international law and stressed that a lasting peace requires two states living within recognised borders based on the pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem serving as the capital of both.
“There is simply no alternative, and time is running out,” he said, linking the two-state framework to wider regional stability.
Costa calls for Gaza peace plan to be implemented
European Council President Antonio Costa said the international consensus around a two-state solution had yet to translate into sufficient action on the ground.
Costa recalled that 142 countries endorsed the New York Declaration on the Two-State Solution last year, while UN Security Council Resolution 2803 provided an operational framework for a Gaza peace plan. Yet, he said, the situation had “barely improved” over the past year.
He called for the roadmap for Gaza to be implemented, while warning that the two-state solution was being jeopardised daily across the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
“Preserving the pathway to peace” requires urgent collective action to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian state living alongside Israel in security, Costa said.
The meeting came during the high-level week of the 81st UN General Assembly, where the two-state solution and the future of Gaza remain prominent issues on the international agenda.
