What UN meet amid grave tragedy in Gaza aims to achieve, and what it might

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

The ongoing mass starvation of Gazans amid Israeli military action may finally prove to be enough for the global community at the level of the United Nations to push again for a two-state solution. Palestinians at a tent camp next to buildings destroyed in Israeli military operations in Gaza City, July 25.(AP)
Israel and its biggest backer, the US, are expected to be absent at the July 28-30 UN conference in New York, where France plans to recognise Palestinian statehood as over 100 countries attend.
Talks for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, however, have hit a wall after the US and Israel withdrew their negotiators. They have alleged that Hamas has set unreasonable conditions.
In that light, the UN conference, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, is a response to the crisis. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and several dozen ministers from around the world are expected to attend, AFP reported.
Israel clearing Gaza
Israeli bulldozers have, nonetheless, been clearing the rubble of thousands of destroyed buildings in Gaza — homes, hospitals, schools, offices — as the ideas of Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, of developing a 'waterfront property' and a 'resort-like city', take shape.
Trump has grown more blunt in his calls for Israel to 'finish the job'.
Also read | Palestinians stare at 'die hungry or leave territory' as Gaza starvation peaks
After more than 21 months of the latest war in Gaza, which began as retaliation to an attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas, Israel is speaking of shifting all of Gaza's population into a 'humanitarian city'. Some analysts see that as a potential concentration camp.
Israel's settlements continue to expand in the West Bank, the other major Palestinian territory, too. Its officials have stated designs to annex more of the occupied territory.
A Palestinian state, thus, looks geographically impossible.
Also read | Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will take 'full control' of Gaza
But French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement, that his country will formally recognise the State of Palestine in September, "will breathe new life into [the UN] conference that seemed destined to irrelevance," Richard Gowan, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, told news agency AFP.
"Macron's announcement changes the game. Other participants will be scrabbling to decide if they should also declare an intent to recognise Palestine," he felt.
According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states — already including France — now recognise the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.
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.
But subsequent wars and annexations have meant Israel now controls almost all of the territory.
'No alternative': Back to a two-state solution
After the latest war having reportedly claimed over 50,000 lives, and protests over the West's military support to Israel growing, a two-state solution is 'more threatened than it has ever been', said a French diplomatic source to AFP.
"But it's even more necessary than before, because we see very clearly that there is no alternative," the source added.
The three-day New York meeting is hoping to facilitate conditions for even wider recognition of a Palestinian state.
Plus, it has three other focuses: reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Palestinian public life, and normalization of relations with Israel by Arab states that have not yet done so.
The UK, however, has said it would not recognise a Palestinian state unilaterally and would wait for 'a wider plan'. Germany has no such plans either.
'Very fierce criticism of Israel' is expected, though, at the meet, said analyst Gowan.
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 the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, calling for "courage" from participants.
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, has dismissed the plan, 'This conference […] doesn't first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages.'
(With AFP inputs)