Smoke rises after an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Feb. 15, 2024. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his call for peace and better global order, highlighting the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Top international organizations and government officials called for a permanent settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the ongoing 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC), saying that only the two-state solution can make the region achieve lasting security.
Addressing the conference at its opening ceremony on Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his call for peace and better global order, highlighting the two-state solution to the crisis.
He said that the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and a humanitarian ceasefire are the only way to massively scale up aid delivery in Gaza, and thus will lay the foundation for concrete and irreversible steps towards a two-state solution.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during the opening of the 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, Feb. 16, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)
Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, expressed strong concern over the humanitarian situation and the wider consequences for the region. He emphasized the need to lower regional tensions and promote international efforts towards a two-state solution.
During a meeting here with Guterres, Borrell also underlined the need for increased EU cooperation with the UN in striving towards a two-state solution.
In his address at the conference, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also supported the two-state solution, saying that is the key for both Israel and Palestine to get out of the conflict and have a peaceful future.
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at a penal discussion that eventually, there has to be a permanent fix, a long-term fix to the conflict, otherwise "we're going to see a recurrence."
"India has long believed in a two-state solution. We have maintained that position for many decades. And I think today many more countries in the world feel that not just the two-state solution is necessary, but it is more urgent than it was before," he said.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told the audience at the MSC that he was firmly convinced that the only pathway towards security and stability for everyone in the region is through a Palestinian state.
Addressing a panel discussion on the Middle East situation, Faisal said that the greater the consensus in the international community on the two-state solution, the closer the world will get to it.
A boy sits with a dog beside the ruins in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, Feb. 17, 2024. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)
"We agree that the two-state solution is the right solution. And it's now time to put all of our efforts into making that happen," he stressed, adding that "we cannot hold the future of our region, the future of our generations hostage to politics or ideology, and we must push to move forward."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said at the panel discussion that part of the reasons behind the failure of talks on the two-state solution in the past was the lack of political will.
"I think we are totally committed and convinced that this is the only solution, a viable solution that can bring the region out of this cycle of violence and create normal conditions for everyone to prosper and to live in peace," he said.
Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that what's happening now represents "a wake-up call" that the situation was not sustainable and "we need to step up and to look at a better future for the people in the region."
People check the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on Feb. 16, 2024. (Photo by Khaled Omar/Xinhua)
The two-state solution guarantees an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. ■
