UN chief says denial of Palestinian right to statehood ‘unacceptable’
Antonio Guterres tells summit of Non-Aligned Movement that this refusal, reiterated recently by Netanyahu, would ‘exacerbate polarization and embolden extremists everywhere’
KAMPALA, Uganda — The right of the Palestinian people to build their own state “must be recognized by all,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Uganda on Saturday, appearing to respond to recent statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterating his rejection of the notion.
“The refusal to accept a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, and the denial of the right to statehood for the Palestinian people, are unacceptable,” the UN leader insisted in the Ugandan capital Kampala.
Such a stance “would indefinitely prolong a conflict that has become a major threat to global peace and security; exacerbate polarization; and embolden extremists everywhere,” Guterres warned.
“The right of the Palestinian people to build their own state must be recognized by all.”
The war that erupted on October 7 began with a cross-border rampage by some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists who murdered 1,200 people in Israel and abducted another 253, amid brutal atrocities.
Israel launched an operation in Gaza in response, aimed at toppling the Hamas terror group’s regime in Gaza and at retrieving the hostages, 136 of whom are believed to still be in terrorists’ hands.
The Gaza health ministry, run by Hamas, says the death toll in the Strip has reached nearly 25,000 people, though figures from the terror group cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, some as a consequence of the terror groups’ own rocket misfires. The IDF says it has killed over 9,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on and immediately following October 7.
In its final summit communique, the Non-Aligned Movement on Saturday “strongly condemned the illegal Israeli military aggression against the Gaza Strip” — despite Israel not having initiated the flareup — and called for “a lasting humanitarian ceasefire.”
The assembled leaders in Kampala also called for “the independence and sovereignty of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in order to achieve a two-state solution.”
The Non-Aligned Movement is a forum of 120 countries that aren’t formally aligned with any major power bloc. Its members include India, Iran, Iraq and South Africa.
On Monday, Guterres appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
The United States, Israel’s main ally and key supporter in its war against Hamas, has also recently reiterated its support for the creation of a Palestinian state.
In recent days, Netanyahu has reaffirmed his opposition to the creation of a viable Palestinian state, drawing criticism from his American ally.
US President Joe Biden said over the weekend that Netanyahu has indicated to him that he’d be willing to potentially accept some form of Palestinian state in the future, prompting Netanyahu to deny expressing such sentiment.
