UN ministers meet on Israel, Palestine
Dozens of ministers will gather at the United Nations on Monday for a delayed conference to work toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. Still, the US and Israel are boycotting the event.
The 193-member UN General Assembly decided in September last year that such a conference would be held in 2025.
Hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, the conference was postponed in June after Israel attacked Iran.
The conference aims to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel's security.
Read: UN talks on Israel-Palestinian solution set for July 28–29
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told newspaper La Tribune Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday that he will also use the conference this week to push other countries to join France in recognizing a Palestinian state.
Dozens of ministers will gather at the United Nations for a delayed conference to work toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, but the US and Israel are boycotting the event https://t.co/RD1Vq084Ip — Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2025
France intends to recognize a Palestinian state in September at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, President Emmanuel Macron said last week.
"We will launch an appeal in New York so that other countries join us to initiate an even more ambitious and demanding dynamic that will culminate on September 21," Barrot said, adding that he expected Arab countries by then to condemn Palestinian militants Hamas and call for their disarmament.
The conference comes as a 22-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza still rages. The war was started on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel's military attacks have killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The US will not attend the conference at the United Nations, said a State Department spokesperson, describing it as "a gift to Hamas, which continues to reject ceasefire proposals accepted by Israel that would lead to the release of hostages and bring calm in Gaza."
The State Department spokesperson added that Washington voted against the General Assembly last year calling for the conference, and would "not support actions that jeopardize the prospect for a long-term, peaceful resolution to the conflict."
Israel is also not taking part in the conference, "which doesn't first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages," said Jonathan Harounoff, international spokesperson at Israel's UN mission.
The UN has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders.
Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and the Gaza, all territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war with neighboring Arab states.
The UN General Assembly in May last year overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." The resolution garnered 143 votes in favor and nine against.
The General Assembly vote was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member - a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state - after the US vetoed it in the UN Security Council several weeks earlier.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
‘No alternative' to two-state solution for Israel, Palestinians
UNITED NATIONS: France told a UN conference co-chaired with Saudi Arabia on Monday that there is 'no alternative' to a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. 'Only a political, two-state solution will help respond to the legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security. There is no alternative,' French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said at the start of the three-day meeting. Days before the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he would formally recognize a State of Palestine in September. In an interview with French weekly La Tribune Dimanche, Barrot said that other European countries will confirm 'their intention to recognize the State of Palestine' during the conference, without confirming which. 'All states have a responsibility to act now,' said Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa at the start of the meeting, calling for an international force to deploy to help underwrite Palestinian statehood. 'Recognize the state of Palestine without delay.' France is hoping that Britain will take this step. More than 200 British members of parliament on Friday voiced support for the idea, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated that recognition of a Palestinian state 'must be part of a wider plan.' According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states – including France – now recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988. Food arrives in Gaza after Israel pauses some fighting In 1947, a resolution of the UN General Assembly decided on the partition of Palestine, then under a British mandate, into two independent states – one Jewish and the other Arab. The following year, the state of Israel was proclaimed. For several decades, the vast majority of UN member states have supported the idea of a two-state solution, Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side. But after more than 21 months of war in Gaza, the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and Israeli officials declaring designs to annex occupied territory, it is feared a Palestinian state could be geographically impossible. The current war in Gaza started following a deadly attack by Hamas on Israel, which responded with a large-scale military response that has claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian lives. Trump says Gaza ceasefire 'possible' amid Starmer talks This week's conference comes at a moment when 'the prospect of a Palestinian state has never been so threatened, or so necessary,' Barrot said. Call for courage Beyond facilitating conditions for the recognition of a Palestinian state, the meeting will focus on three other issues – reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Palestinian public life, and normalization of relations with Israel by Arab states. However, no new normalization deals are expected to be announced at the meeting, according to a French diplomatic source. On the other hand, 'for the first time, Arab countries will condemn Hamas and call for its disarmament,' Barrot said. The conference 'offers a unique opportunity to transform international law and the international consensus into an achievable plan and to demonstrate resolve to end the occupation and conflict once and for all, for the benefit of all peoples,' said Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, calling for 'courage' from participants. Israel and the United States were not taking part in the meeting, amid growing international pressure to mount on Israel to end nearly two years of war in Gaza. Despite 'tactical pauses' in some military operations announced by Israel, the humanitarian catastrophe in the ravaged coastal territory is expected to dominate speeches by representatives of more than 100 countries as they take the podium. Bruno Stagno, chief advocacy officer at Human Rights Watch, said 'more platitudes about a two-state solution and peace process will do nothing to advance the conference's goals, nor to halt the extermination of Palestinians in Gaza.'
Business Recorder
3 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Trump says Gaza ceasefire ‘possible' amid Starmer talks
TURNBERRY: Donald Trump said a ceasefire in Gaza was 'possible', and stepped up warnings to Russia, as he met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at one of the US president's Scottish golf resorts on Monday. Trump made the comments as he greeted Starmer and his wife Victoria at Turnberry, south of Glasgow, where he has spent two days playing golf. The US leader said he would 'reduce' a 50-day ultimatum that he has set Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, as he took questions from reporters before his talks with the British leader. 'I'm disappointed in President Putin, very disappointed in him. So we're going to have to look and I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number,' Trump said. Downing Street said Starmer would press Trump on ending 'the unspeakable suffering' in Gaza and urge a revival of stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas as a hunger crisis deepens in the besieged Palestinian territory. Asked whether he agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there was no starvation in Gaza, Trump said: 'I don't know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly, because those children look very hungry.' The meeting on Trump's third full day in Scotland came after the United States and the European Union reached a landmark deal to avert a full-blown trade war over tariffs. Starmer and Trump were to discuss implementing a recent UK-US trade deal. Food arrives in Gaza after Israel pauses some fighting But Gaza was expected to be the focus as European countries express growing alarm over events. Starmer also faces domestic pressure to follow France's lead and recognise a Palestinian state. 'Reject hunger' Trump said Sunday the United States would give more aid to Gaza but he wanted other countries to step up. 'It's not a US problem. It's an international problem,' he said, before embarking on trade talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen. He accused Hamas of intercepting aid, saying 'they're stealing the food, they're stealing a lot of things. You ship it in and they steal it, then they sell it.' Truckloads of food reached hungry Gazans on Monday after Israel promised to open secure aid routes and declared a 'tactical pause' in fighting in parts of the territory. But humanitarian agencies warned vast amounts more were needed to counter starvation. UN aid chief welcomes 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaza United Nations chief Antonio Guterres urged international action against hunger. 'Hunger fuels instability and undermines peace. We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war,' he told a UN conference. Tariffs Last week, the United States and Israel withdrew from Gaza truce talks, with US envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of blocking a deal – a claim rejected by the Palestinian group. Starmer held talks with French and German counterparts on Saturday, after which the UK government said they agreed 'it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently-needed ceasefire into lasting peace'. But the Downing Street statement made no mention of Palestinian statehood, which French President Emmanuel Macron has announced his country will recognise in September. More than 220 MPs in Britain's 650-seat parliament, including dozens from Starmer's own Labour party, have demanded that he too recognise Palestinian statehood. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told ITV on Monday that 'every Labour MP, was elected on a manifesto of recognition of a Palestinian state' and that it was 'a case of when, not if.' The UK-US trade deal was signed on May 8 and lowered tariffs for certain UK exports but has yet to come into force. Trump said Sunday the agreement was 'great' for both sides but Reynolds told the BBC that 'it wasn't job done' and cautioned not to expect any announcement of a resolution on issues such as steel and aluminium tariffs. After their meeting the two leaders will travel to Aberdeen in Scotland's northeast, where the US president is to open a new golf course at his resort on Tuesday. Trump played golf at Turnberry on Saturday and Sunday on a five-day visit that has mixed leisure with diplomacy, and also further blurred the lines between the presidency and his business interests.
Business Recorder
5 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Brussels says EU-US deal ‘better than trade war' with Trump
BRUSSELS: The EU's top negotiator on Monday defended a trade agreement with the United States to avert steeper tariffs as 'the best deal we could get under very difficult circumstances'. 'I'm 100 percent sure that this deal is better than a trade war with the United States,' EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic told journalists. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday struck an accord with US President Donald Trump that will see exports from the bloc subjected to 15 percent tariffs – but no tariffs for US exports to Europe. The agreement meant Brussels staved off a threat from Trump to hit Europe with levies twice as high if no deal was struck by August 1. EU trade chief heads to Washington in search of tariffs solution But it still drew stinging criticism from some European capitals and industries who accused the EU of giving in too easily to the US leader. 'It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to affirm their values and defend their interests, resorts to submission,' French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou wrote on X. Sefcovic urged those taking issue with the deal to 'pause for the moment and consider the alternative'. 'A trade war may seem appealing to some, but it comes with serious consequences. With at least a 30 percent tariff, our transatlantic trade would effectively come to a halt,' he said. 'Our businesses sent us a unanimous message, avoid escalation and work towards a solution.'
