UN secretary-general says support for 2-state solution must go beyond words

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that international support for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians cannot remain merely rhetorical as Israeli settlement and other policies in the occupied Palestinian territories accelerate.

"For Palestinians and all those who care about peace in the Middle East, support for two states must go beyond words," Guterres told participants during a high-level ministerial event on the Two-State Solution and the Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly.

He stressed that while formal diplomatic endorsements have expanded, practical developments across the occupied West Bank and Gaza are actively undermining feasibility.

"The conditions for an independent, democratic, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian State are being systematically erased," he said, citing aggressive Israeli measures alongside attacks by Israeli occupiers in the West Bank.

Guterres noted that Israeli occupation expansion represents a clear violation of international law, raising alarm over construction projects planned for the strategic E1 corridor of the occupied West Bank. Advancing those projects "would deal a deathblow to the prospect of a contiguous and viable Palestinian State," he warned.

He affirmed that enduring peace requires two states living within recognized borders based on pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem serving as the shared capital of both nations.

"There is simply no alternative, and time is running out," he said, adding that this remains central to broader regional stability.

Speaking at the meeting, European Council President Antonio Costa underscored that despite widespread international consensus, operational progress has ground to a halt.

Costa recalled that significant optimism emerged when 142 nations backed the New York Declaration on the Two-State Solution alongside UN Security Council Resolution 2803, yet circumstances on the ground have barely shifted over the past year.

He insisted that the international roadmap for Gaza requires immediate implementation, adding that the framework remains in daily jeopardy across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Preserving the pathway to peace demands urgent collective intervention to establish an independent, sovereign Palestinian state coexisting securely alongside Israel, Costa said.