Fifteen countries have issued a joint statement affirming their “unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-state solution” at a United Nations conference held in New York this week.
At the conference hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, 15 states have renewed calls for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a joint commitment to the two-state solution.
The initiative comes after President Emmanuel Macron stated last week that he would recognise a sovereign Palestinian state by September.
The foreign ministers collectively expressed “grave concern over the high number of civilian casualties and humanitarian situation in Gaza and emphasise the essential role of the United Nations and its agencies in facilitating humanitarian assistance.”
The official statement
An official statement from the French ministry detailed the countries that were involved in the call for a ceasefire and two-state solution:
“We, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia, and Spain, reiterate our unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-state solution.”
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The statement stressed the importance of “peaceful coexistence between the two democratic states of Israel and Palestine.”
It also outlined how there must be secure and internationally recognised borders in place that comply with international law and the relevant UN resolutions.
One of the key points in the conference was to stress the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.
The ministers built upon the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas commitments made on June 10, where he noted that he “(i) condemns the October 7th terrorist attacks, (ii) calls for the liberation of hostages and disarmament of Hamas, (iii) commits to terminate the prisoner payment system, (iv) commits to schooling reform, (v) commits to call for elections within a year to trigger generational renewal, and (vi) accepts the principle of a demilitarised Palestinian State.”
“We… have already recognised, have expressed or express the willingness or the positive consideration of our countries to recognise the State of Palestine, as an essential step towards the two-state solution,” the statement read.
The statement invited “all countries that have not done so to join this call.”
They went further with calls for the foreign ministers to strengthen ties with Israel, prompting them to establish “normal relations with Israel, and to express their willingness to enter into discussions on the regional integration of the State of Israel.”
Nine of the signatories have not yet recognised sovereign Palestinian statehood, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Starmer’s move to recognise a Palestinian state
On Tuesday, following mounting pressure from MPs after Macron’s statement on Palestinian recognition, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also announced that he would recognise the state of Palestine unless Israel took “substantive steps” towards peace in Gaza.
He said: “The UK will formally recognise the State of Palestine in September unless Israel takes various ‘substantive steps.”
France and the UK were the first G7 nations to make such a move.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted Starmer for his comments, saying that it “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims.”
“A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW,” he wrote Netayahu on X.
