The promotion of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict gained momentum despite Israel’s absence from the negotiations.
The meeting on Thursday, 26 September, jointly organised by Saudi Arabia, the EU, Norway and others on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, discussed renewed peace efforts and a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell stated:
We meant to take stock of how many people want to engage in the Global Alliance for the implementation of the two-state solution. And from this point of view, it was a great success.
More than 90 countries and nearly 60 UN foreign ministers participated in the talks. The first follow-up summits are expected to take place in Riyadh and Brussels, with further meetings to follow in Cairo, Oslo, Amman and Ankara.
Borrell claimed that one example of this would be to test willingness to recognise Palestinian independence to “see how many countries want to do it all together.” However, Israel did not attend the ministerial meeting, despite the invitation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to address the UN General Assembly on Friday. While world leaders are urging a ceasefire in Gaza and de-escalation with Lebanon, many of them will have already left New York when Netanyahu addresses the chamber.
The US and several European and Arab nations proposed a 21-day ceasefire on Thursday to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, but Tel Aviv rejected the move.
We continue to hit Hezbollah with all our might – this is the policy.
However, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan expressed uncertainty about reaching an agreement between Palestine and Israel.
We have seen since the start of the war a pattern; every time we are told we are close to a ceasefire in Gaza, it does not happen. Similarly, when we were with our partners working together on a very concrete call for a ceasefire regarding Lebanon, our impression was that was acceptable, only to learn now that, no, it is not acceptable.
