International consensus on a two-State solution to end the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be eroding “at a time when it
is more important than ever,” Secretary-General António Guterres
said on Tuesday, calling the ‘question of Palestine’ one of the
longest unresolved issues on the agenda of the United Nations.
“We must face today’s difficult reality,” Secretary-General
António Guterres told the opening of the 2018 session of the
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the
Palestinian People, which was created by the UN General Assembly
in 1975 to seek and end to the Israeli occupation and ensure the
achievement of a two-state solution in the Middle East conflict.
“Negative trends on the ground have the potential to create an
irreversible one-state reality that is incompatible with
realizing the legitimate national, historic and democratic
aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians,” he added.
After decades, “convergence and global consensus could be
eroding, making effective concerted action more difficult to
achieve,” he stressed, noting “illegal” settlement expansion in
the occupied West Bank as “a major obstacle to peace.”
“It must be halted and reversed,” he maintained.
Moreover, the humanitarian and economic situation in Gaza remains
dire, with predictions by the UN Country Team in the Occupied
Palestine Territory that unless concrete action is taken to
improve basic services and infrastructure, it will become
unliveable by 2020.
“Yet,” the UN chief continued “Gaza remains squeezed by crippling
closures and a state of constant humanitarian emergency” as two
million Palestinians struggle daily with an electricity crisis,
chronic unemployment and a paralyzed economy – amid an unfolding
environmental disaster.
The latest funding shortfall in the UN Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will further
impair critical services and threaten the human security, rights
and dignity of five million Palestine refugees across the Middle
East.
“I appeal to the generosity of the international community not to
let that happen,” implored Mr. Guterres, adding “Reconciliation
is a key step in reaching the larger objective of a Palestinian
State and lasting peace.”
He reiterated his commitment to supporting the parties’ efforts
to a two-State solution.
“A two-State solution is the only way to achieve the inalienable
rights of the Palestinian people and secure a sustainable
solution to the conflict,” concluded the Secretary-General.
