UN chief: 'Two-state solution is being stripped away in broad daylight'
Palestinians say recent Israeli moves are meant to lay the groundwork for formal annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that the world cannot remain silent in the face of what he called "blatant violations of human rights, human dignity and international law" in the occupied Palestinian territory, saying the two-state solution is being eroded "in broad daylight".
Addressing the opening session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Guterres said the current trajectory in the Israeli-occupied territories was "stark, clear and purposeful: the two-state solution is being stripped away in broad daylight".
The UN chief argued that the long-envisioned framework for Israeli and Palestinian states living side by side is being systematically undermined.
His remarks come days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as "state property" — the first such measure since it occupied the territory in 1967.
Under the 1995 Oslo II Accord, the occupied West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C. Area C — which makes up roughly 61 percent of the territory — remains under full Israeli control, while Palestinian land registration is limited to Areas A and B.
The latest Israeli decision forms part of a broader package of measures approved by the country's security cabinet aimed at expanding settlement construction and consolidating control over Area C, making it even easier for Jewish settlers to buy real estate on land, which belongs to the Palestinians.
Israeli media reported that the steps include repealing a law that barred the sale of occupied West Bank land to settlers, unsealing land ownership records and transferring planning authority in a settlement bloc near Hebron from a Palestinian municipality to Israel's civil administration.
Palestinians view the moves — alongside intensified military raids, arrests and settlement expansion since the start of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023 — as laying the groundwork for formal annexation.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion declaring Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory unlawful and calling for the evacuation of settlements in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry last week condemned Israel's land registration decision as "legally null and void", warning that it amounts to "a practical beginning of the annexation process".
In a statement posted on X, the ministry said the move sought to "legitimise the crime of settlement and annexation" and facilitated "the seizure, occupation and theft of Palestinian lands".
It described the decision as a direct challenge to international law and cited UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which reaffirmed that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, have no legal validity.
Calling for urgent international action, the Palestinian ministry urged the UN Security Council and global legal bodies to halt what it described as accelerating unilateral Israeli measures that threaten regional stability and the viability of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state.