Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that there was “no plan B to the two-state solution” during a conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, as part of the UN leader’s three-day visit to the region.
“A two-state solution that will end the occupation and, with the creation of conditions, also the suffering even to the Palestinian people, is in my opinion the only way to guarantee that peace is established,” Guterres said during the conference.
“I’ve said several times that there is no plan B to the two-state solution,” he added.
Guterres reiterated the UN’s stance that Israel’s settlements are illegal under international law, and they were an “obstacle that needs to be removed in relation to the possibility of two-state solution to be adequately implemented.”
#UN chief in Cairo today: "there is no Plan B…but a two state solution & everything must be done to preserve that possibility." https://t.co/XSeWHvA19I
— Margaret Besheer (@mbesheer) February 15, 2017
On Monday, Guterres met with Netanyahu following a visit to Yad Vashem (Israel’s Holocaust museum) and assured Israeli leaders that he was committed to the fight against anti-Semitism. “The right of existence of the State of Israel is clear and the right of existence in security of the State of Israel is clear,” he said.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, reiterated the “discriminatory” treatment that he believes Israel has faced at the UN.
“There is no question that we’ve had a troubled relationship with the UN. I think it has an absurd obsession with Israel, flagrantly discriminatory tactics,” Netanyahu said. “You don’t have to be the Israeli prime minister to understand that, and I think people of good faith and common sense understand that.”
Guterres also met with Israeli families on Monday whose relatives are being held by Hamas, the de facto leaders in the besieged Gaza Strip.
In February, Trump said that when it came to a solution for the conflict he could “live with either” a one- or two-state solution, in a significant departure from the US’ publicly held position in favor of a two-state solution.
However, his elusiveness has not belied the fact that Trump and his administration have maintained their pro-Israel stance, despite stated efforts to renew the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which Trump said in the past was “not as difficult as people have thought over the years.”
(Maan, PC, Social Media)
