UN conference backs two-state solution, calls on Israel to commit to a Palestinian state
Jul 29, 2025, 12:47 PM | Updated: 5:52 pm
UNITED NATIONS (AP) 鈥� High-level representatives at a U.N. conference on Tuesday urged Israel to commit to a Palestinian state and gave 鈥渦nwavering support鈥� to a two-state solution, signaling widespread international determination to end one of the world鈥檚 longest conflicts.
The 鈥淣ew York Declaration鈥� sets out a phased plan to end the nearly eight-decade conflict and the ongoing war in Gaza. The plan would culminate with an independent, demilitarized Palestine living side by side peacefully with Israel, and the nation’s eventual integration into the wider Mideast region.
The two-day meeting, which ends Tuesday, is taking place amid the latest reports that starvation and famine are taking place in Gaza, and growing global outrage at Palestinians not getting food due to Israeli policies and practices 鈥� which Israel denies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes a two-state solution and has rejected the meeting on both nationalistic and security grounds. Its close ally, the United States, is also boycotting, calling the meeting 鈥渦nproductive and ill-timed.鈥�
The conference, which was postponed from June and downgraded from world leaders to ministers, for the first time established eight high-level working groups to examine and make proposals on wide-ranging topics related to a two-state solution.
The declaration鈥檚 plan says conference co-chairs France and Saudi Arabia, the European Union and Arab League, and 15 countries that led the working groups agreed 鈥渢o take collective action to end the war in Gaza.鈥�
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan urged the rest of the 193 U.N. member nations 鈥渢o support this document鈥� before the start of the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly in mid-September.
The declaration condemns 鈥渢he attacks committed by Hamas against civilians鈥� in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. It marks a first condemnation by Arab nations of Hamas, whose attacks killed about 1,200, mainly Israeli civilians, and whose militants took about 250 people hostage. Some 50 are still being held.
The declaration condemns Israeli attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and its 鈥渟iege and starvation, which have produced a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection crisis.鈥� Israel鈥檚 ongoing offensive against Hamas has killed over 60,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn鈥檛 distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The conference plan envisions the Palestinian Authority governing and controlling all Palestinian territory, with a transitional administrative committee immediately established under its umbrella after a ceasefire in Gaza.
It also supports deployment of 鈥渁 temporary international stabilization mission鈥� operating under U.N. auspices to protect Palestinian civilians, support the transfer of security to the Palestinian Authority and provide security guarantees for Palestine and Israel 鈥� 鈥渋ncluding monitoring of the ceasefire and of a future peace agreement.鈥�
The declaration calls for countries to recognize the state of Palestine, calling this 鈥渁n essential and indispensable component of the achievement of the two-state solution.鈥� Without naming Israel but clearly referring to it, the document says 鈥渋llegal unilateral actions are posing an existential threat to the realization of the independent state of Palestine.鈥�
French President Emmanuel Macron announced ahead of the meeting that his country will recognize the state of Palestine at the General Assembly’s meeting of world leaders in late September. The French Foreign Ministry on Tuesday pushed back on Israeli claims that recognition of Palestine would 鈥渞eward鈥� Hamas, saying that 鈥渙n the contrary, it has contributed to isolating Hamas.鈥�
United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday that Britain would recognize the state of Palestine ahead of September’s high-level meeting, but would refrain if Israel agrees to a ceasefire and long-term peace process in the next eight weeks. The countries are now the biggest Western powers and the only two members of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations to make such a pledge.
