The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly backed a decision reviving a two-state answer for Israel and Palestine, lower than 24 hours after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned there would never be a Palestinian state.
The “New York Declaration”, which outlines “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” in direction of a two-state answer, was adopted on Friday by 142 votes in favour, 10 towards – together with Israel and key ally the US – and 12 abstentions.
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Introduced by France and Saudi Arabia, the seven-page doc requires “collective motion to finish the battle in Gaza, to realize a simply, peaceable and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian battle primarily based on the efficient implementation of the Two-State answer”.
It additionally orders Palestinian group Hamas, which runs the federal government in Gaza, to “free all hostages”, stipulating that it should “finish its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority … consistent with the target of a sovereign and impartial Palestinian State”.
Palestine’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs welcomed Saudi-French efforts to create an “actionable plan” in direction of a two-state answer. The ministry additionally known as for “activating all mechanisms to finish the Israeli colonial occupation” and “obtain the authentic rights of the Palestinian folks”.
Try to ‘take negotiation course of ahead’
The UN’s ringing endorsement of the two-state answer got here amid Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza, in the future after Netanyahu signed off on a settlement growth plan within the occupied West Financial institution that will make any future Palestinian state just about inconceivable.
Reporting from New York, Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey mentioned that the vote confirmed “an unimaginable quantity of pushback from the worldwide neighborhood”.
“This exhibits mounting concern over a scarcity of progress on … talks, and an try by the worldwide neighborhood to take the negotiation course of ahead,” she mentioned.
The vote precedes an upcoming UN summit co-chaired by Riyadh and Paris on September 22 in New York, during which French President Emmanuel Macron and several other different leaders have promised to formally recognise the Palestinian state.
Whereas 146 members of the UN already again a Palestinian state, one other 10 or so, together with France, Norway, Spain, Eire and the UK are anticipated to hitch their ranks later this month.
“Crucially, European nations who’ve been extra reluctant to take action underneath the stress of the US and Israel, [are] displaying the considerations that the scenario on the bottom there may be changing into all of the extra dire, no progress is being made,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Saloomey.
Israel derailing peace efforts
Israel rejected the declaration after the landmark vote, slamming it as “disgraceful”.
The vote has “confirmed how a lot the Common Meeting is a political circus indifferent from actuality”, mentioned Israel’s Overseas Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein in a submit on X, criticising the decision for not calling Hamas a “terrorist organisation”.
The vote passed off in per week during which Israel has been on notably bellicose type, dialling up regional tensions with plenty of lethal strikes throughout the Center East, concentrating on Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Tunisia and Qatar in parallel with its assaults on Gaza and the occupied West Financial institution.
On Thursday, UN Safety Council members condemned Israel for its strike on lead mediator Qatar, which killed 5 members of Hamas in Doha, who had been discussing a brand new deal proposed by US President Donald Trump.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who had flown in for the UNSC emergency session, had blasted Israel’s leaders as “arrogant”, including that the timing of the assaults throughout mediation efforts confirmed that the nation meant to derail them.
Because the UN voted on Friday to advance the two-state answer, people in the Gaza Strip continued to endure heavy artillery fireplace and bombing from Israeli forces, with Friday’s demise toll hitting 59 simply after the outcomes had been introduced.
The Israeli military mentioned it had accomplished 5 waves of air strikes on Gaza Metropolis this week as a part of its takeover plan, concentrating on greater than 500 websites. It mentioned it will “proceed to accentuate the tempo of strikes in a targeted method … with the intention of hitting Hamas’ infrastructure”.
