UN chief warns that Israel’s rejection of two-state solution for Palestinians threatens global peace
- UN chief again urges Gaza ceasefire at high-level meeting of the UN Security Council
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a Palestinian state
The United Nations chief warned Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of a two-state solution will indefinitely prolong a conflict that is threatening global peace and emboldening extremists everywhere.
In his toughest language yet on the war between Israel and Hamas, Secretary General Antonio Guterres told a ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council that “the right of the Palestinian people to build their own fully independent state must be recognised by all, and a refusal to accept the two-state solution by any party must be firmly rejected”.
The alternative of a one-state solution “with such a large number of Palestinians inside without any real sense of freedom, rights and dignity … will be inconceivable,” he said.
Guterres also warned that the risks of regional escalation of the conflict “are now becoming a reality”, pointing to Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Pakistan.
He urged all parties “to step back from the brink and to consider the horrendous costs” of a wider war.
