UN leader condemns Israeli West Bank military rule as General Assembly begins

Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the 77th session of the General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, September 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the 77th session of the General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, September 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemns Israel’s military rule in the West Bank in his opening address to the General Assembly, the UN’s annual gathering of world leaders.

“In Israel and Palestine, cycles of violence under the occupation continue as prospects for peace based on a two-state solution grow ever more distant,” Guterres says.

The opening of Guterres’s speech focuses on the Ukraine war, global food crisis and climate change.

He mentions the Israeli-Palestinian situation alongside global conflicts including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar and Syria.

The Palestinian delegation to the UN says Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivered Guterres a letter calling on the UN leader to ensure “the right to self-determination, independence, and return.”

The UN says Guterres and Abbas met yesterday to discuss the occupation, UNRWA and shared commitments to a two-state solution.

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