UN votes to back two-state solution to Israel-Palestinian conflict
The United Nations' General Assembly overwhelmingly voted on Friday to support a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict and urge Israel to commit to a Palestinian state.
The 193-member world body approved a nonbinding resolution endorsing the "New York Declaration," which sets out a phased plan to end the nearly 80-year conflict. The vote was 142-10 with 12 abstentions. The United States was one of the 10 states that voted against.
Hours before the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "There will be no Palestinian state."
The resolution was sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, who co-chaired a high-level conference on implementing a two-state solution in late July, where the wording of the declaration was agreed.
Displaced Palestinians check what remains of their tents following an overnight Israeli strike that leveled a building and damaged the surrounding temporary shelters in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City.
Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The nearly two-year war in Gaza and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict are expected to be at the top of the agenda of world leaders at their annual gathering at the General Assembly starting on Sept. 22. The Palestinian delegation says they hope at least 10 more countries will recognize Palestine as a state, adding to the more than 145 countries that have already done so.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, said the majority support for the resolution reflects "the yearning of almost everyone, the international community, to open the door for the option of peace."
But Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon dismissed the resolution as "theater," saying the only beneficiary is Hamas.
"This one-sided declaration will not be remembered as a step toward peace, only as another hollow gesture that weakens this assembly's credibility," he said.
The United States, Israel's closest ally, echoed that position.
The resolution "is yet another misguided and ill-timed publicity stunt that undermines serious diplomatic efforts to end the conflict," U.S. Mission counselor Morgan Ortagus said. "Make no mistake, this resolution is a gift to Hamas."
Flames and smoke rise from the Rimal neighborhood where the Israeli army launched an attack in Gaza City, Gaza.
Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images
The declaration also condemns "the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians" in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, a rare condemnation by Arab nations of Hamas. The Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mainly Israeli civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Of those, 48 are still being held, including about 20 who are believed to be alive.
The U.N. resolution also condemns Israel's attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and its "siege and starvation, which have produced a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection crisis."
In recent days, the Israel Defense Forces have intensified strikes across Gaza City, the largest urban area in the territory, destroying multiple high-rise buildings, which the IDF says Hamas has been using for surveillance purposes.
On Saturday, the army cited the same reason for striking another high-rise in the area. The IDF has ordered all residents to leave Gaza City, as it continues an offensive against what it calls Hamas' last stronghold. Hundreds of thousands of people remain there, struggling under conditions of famine, according to humanitarian agencies.
In a message on social media Saturday, Israel's army told the remaining Palestinians in Gaza City to leave "immediately" and move south to what it's calling a humanitarian zone. Army spokesman Avichay Adraee said that more than a quarter of a million people had left Gaza City — from an estimated 1 million who live in and around the city, in north Gaza.
The U.N., however, put the number of people who have left at around 100,000 between mid-August and mid-September. The U.N. and aid groups have warned that displacing hundreds of thousands of people will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis.
Smoke rises from the Rimal neighborhood, where the Israeli army launched an attack in Gaza City, Gaza.
Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israel's offensive against Hamas has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The New York declaration 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.
"In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority," the declaration says.
It also supports deployment of "a temporary international stabilization mission" 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 — "including monitoring of the ceasefire and of a future peace agreement."
The declaration urges countries to recognize the state of Palestine, calling this "an essential and indispensable component of the achievement of the two-state solution." Without naming Israel but clearly referring to it, the document says "illegal unilateral actions are posing an existential threat to the realization of the independent state of Palestine."
