Do Not Let Extremists ‘Undermine What Remains’ of Middle East Peace Process, Secretary-General Tells Security Council Open Debate
Israeli Forces ‘Not fighting a War, They Are Erasing a People’, Warns Delegate
At a critical juncture in Middle East history, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning to the Security Council: the prospect of a two-State solution — where Israel and Palestine live side by side in peace and security — is in grave danger of vanishing.
“The world cannot afford to watch the two-State solution disappear,” Mr. Guterres told the 15-member Council at its open debate on the Middle East. “Do not let extremists on any side undermine what remains of the peace process,” he stressed.
Sustainable peace in the Middle East hinges on the establishment of two sovereign States, with Jerusalem serving as the capital of both. The Secretary-General underscored that the erosion of this solution undermines the rights of both peoples and denies Palestinians their legitimate national aspirations — while they continue to live under an Israeli presence deemed unlawful by the International Court of Justice.
Since the 7 October 2023 terror attacks by Hamas, he noted, conditions have “gotten worse on every front”. In Gaza, relentless conflict has created “utterly inhumane” living conditions, with civilians repeatedly under fire, confined to shrinking spaces and cut off from vital humanitarian relief.
In the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli military operations using heavy weaponry in residential zones, home demolitions, movement restrictions and settlement-expansion are dramatically altering the region’s demographic and geographic reality.
“Settler violence continues at alarmingly high levels in a climate of impunity, with entire Palestinian communities facing repeated assaults and destruction, sometimes abetted by Israeli soldiers,” said Mr. Guterres. He also condemned continued Palestinian attacks against Israelis both in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The recent collapse of a temporary ceasefire on 18 March extinguished hopes for de-escalation, the Secretary-General went on to say. Since then, nearly 2,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes and military operations. Hamas continues to launch rockets into Israel, and hostages remain in captivity under appalling conditions, he said, urging their immediate release.
He further warned of the worsening humanitarian crisis. For nearly two months, Israel has blocked the flow of food, fuel, medicine and commercial goods, leaving over 2 million Gazans in dire need. “Aid is non-negotiable,” he said, emphasizing the vital role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Turning to the upcoming High-Level Conference on Gaza in June, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, he said the meeting presents a crucial opportunity to revitalize international support for peace efforts. Moreover, he emphasized that the Palestinian Authority requires increased political and financial backing to remain viable and effective.
The Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine recalled that the Council has adopted binding resolutions to stop the bloodshed. However, there remains a declared punitive siege by Israel to deprive 2 million Palestinians of food, water, medicine and electricity. “There is no shortage of bombs falling on Gaza, but there is an imposed shortage of everything else,” he stressed, condemning the use of “starvation as a weapon of war against an entire civilian population”. Calling for an immediate ceasefire to be resumed, he recalled that Israeli authorities had recently denied him entry “to my own country that I proudly represent here”. Meanwhile, on one side, there is a Palestinian leadership clearly and unequivocally committed to the two-State solution, while on the other is “an Israeli leadership dedicated to its destruction”.
He pointed to solutions whereby Hamas would no longer rule Gaza, and transitional governance arrangements would allow the Palestinian Authority to fully assume its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip. In view of the June conference on the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine, he called on all States who have yet to do so to recognize the State of Palestine without further delay. “The Palestinian people are in a cage, killed and starved, day after day after day,” he stressed, while voicing fear that “the world is growing accustomed to such horrors”. A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip should be accompanied by the end of attacks and repression by Israeli occupation forces and settlers across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Citing “another delusional speech two days ago” by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the two-State solution meant the destruction of Israel, he reaffirmed the need for an independent State of Palestine living side by side with Israel. “Fanatical delusions will destroy our region,” he stated.
The representative of Israel, criticizing the Council for a narrow focus on the region that misses the “broader forces at play”, urged to widen the lens and see the threats that seek to reverse progress through growing violence and extremism. Highlighting a powerful opportunity in Lebanon — where there are public calls for an end to Hizbullah’s tyranny — he called for “more than rhetorical” support to Lebanon’s Government in reclaiming sovereignty and dismantling the “army of terrorists”. He further urged the Council to act before Syria becomes a “permanently fractured State governed by guns” as Iranian-backed forces operate there with impunity”. “The one thread connecting the instability” across the region — from Hizbullah in Lebanon to Hamas in Gaza, militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen — is Iran, he said, accusing Tehran of constructing a deliberate network of violence. On Iran’s nuclear ambition, he stressed: “Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. We will not waver. We will not retreat.”
Regarding the war in Gaza, he stated that “Israel did not seek this war — it was forced upon us on 7 October [2023].” With 59 hostages remaining in Gaza, he underscored Israel’s duty “to dismantle Hamas’s military and governing infrastructure, to ensure Gaza can never again be used as a launchpad for atrocities” and to “first and foremost” bring the hostages home. The only path for peace is for Hamas to release the hostages and lay down the weapons, he said. Therefore, the upcoming High-Level Conference risks “doing more harm than good” by creating false expectations while ignoring the underlying dysfunction of the Palestinian Authority. Instead of amplifying failed approaches, the international community should focus on confronting the radical acts led by Iran and its terror proxies. “We cannot speak of reconstruction without security […] one cannot claim to stand for peace while legitimizing the forces that slaughtered families in their homes,” he said.
In the ensuing open debate, dozens of Member States emphasized that lasting peace in the Middle East hinges on a two-State solution, warned against reaching a point of no return and condemned Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid into the enclave, which is already facing a severe humanitarian crisis.
“This spiral of destabilization must not lead us into a situation from which we cannot turn back,” said Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France. Mr. Barrot, whose country is Council President for the month, spoke in his national capacity, stressing the urgent need to achieve a lasting ceasefire, which must include the release of all hostages held by Hamas. “There is only one solution that can achieve a political settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the two-State solution,” he said. Barbara Žvokelj, Slovenia’s Secretary-General for Foreign and European Affairs, also underscored the need for “more strength to prevent the evaporation of a political solution”.
Attempts to annex the Strip, said the delegate from the Russian Federation, cannot be justified by Hamas’s refusal to unconditionally release the hostages and risk “dismantling the international legal basis for the Middle East settlement”. Urging Israel to reconsider its decision to cease cooperation with UNRWA, he added: “It is totally unacceptable to use humanitarian assistance as a bargaining chip in negotiations.”
Alhaji Musa Timothy Kabba, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone, called the blockade of humanitarian aid and commercial goods since 2 March “a man-made catastrophe”. “It is unacceptable that Israel has blocked humanitarian support from entering Gaza for nearly two months, meaning that Palestinians civilians, including 1 million children are facing starvation and death,” added Ray Collins, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom.
The representatives of Denmark, Greece and Panama, also echoing several speakers, called for an immediate ceasefire of the Gaza conflict and the release of the 59 hostages still held captive in Gaza. The representative of the Republic of Korea said recent remarks by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority — demanding that Hamas release all Israeli hostages — draws a clear line between the Authority and Hamas and has a chance to reinvigorate both Israeli and Palestinian commitment towards the two-State solution.
Somalia and Guyana’s delegates, along with many others, underscored the plight of humanitarian personnel. “Movement is dangerous for aid workers,” said the latter, adding: “We are in effect watching as more and more Palestinians are condemned to die through starvation, bomb or bullet, or disease”. The former’s speaker stated: “We cannot observe passively as basic survival becomes a luxury for an entire population.”
Pakistan’s delegate expressed alarm that the assault on Gaza is killing civilians at four times the rate of previous conflicts. In the same vein, Algeria criticized the international community for the absence of collective action and the double standards that have emboldened the occupier to “normalize and even promote the crime of mass expulsion as a strategy”. “Israeli occupying forces are not fighting a war; they are erasing a people,” he added.
Hamas bears sole responsibility for the war it unleashed on 7 October 2023, said the representative of the United States. And now Hamas is preventing a ceasefire from being concluded — having rejected yet another proposal put forward by her delegation, Qatar and Egypt, that would release hostages and bring calm to Gaza. Instead, that “brutal terrorist organization continues to violently suppress organic protests against its barbaric rule”. Calling for the release of all hostages, including five United States citizens, she condemned the insidious violence throughout the Middle East promoted by Iran. Hamas must disarm and be removed from Gaza, she stressed.
Israel must “relinquish its obsession with the delusion of winning by force”, said China’s delegate. “Violence or force cannot bring about security,” he also added, noting that settlement activities in the West Bank violate Security Council resolutions and must cease immediately. Echoing the concerns of several other Member States, he also said that Israel’s carving out of a buffer zone raises “serious concern”.
Several speakers who have been involved in peace talks stressed the need for both Israel and the State of Palestine to come back to the negotiating table. Qatar’s representative condemned the resumption of Israeli aggression against Gaza in violation of the ceasefire agreement facilitated by her Government, Egypt and the United States in January. Egypt’s delegate said that an immediate ceasefire is pertinent alongside a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, protection for UN agencies and an end to forced displacement. There is “no point in exchanging accusations”, he also said.
Lebanon’s representative urged the international community and the Council to “compel Israel to withdraw completely, immediately and unconditionally” from all occupied territories, including five sites in the south and two buffer zones. He also called for Israel to stop attacks on Lebanon’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”, including the 27 April strike, and to “release Lebanese prisoners”.
Asaad Hasan al-Shaibani, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Syria, said Israel’s repeated air strikes violate Syria’s sovereignty. “The pretext that was used to justify such strikes […] does not stand anymore,” he added. Israeli practices against Syria will only encourage groups affiliated with Iran to destabilize Syria. “We will not accept any foreign interference into our country,” he stressed.
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* The 9906th Meeting was closed.