RIYADH: International efforts to implement a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict gained momentum on Thursday, as senior diplomats gathered for a second day in Riyadh for the first meeting of a newly formed international alliance.
In his address, Saudi Deputy Minister for Multilateral International Affairs Abdulrahman Al-Rassi stressed the urgency of the initiative amid ongoing violence in Gaza, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
He criticized Israel’s violations of international and humanitarian law and expressed frustration at the international community’s response to the crisis. He noted the UN Security Council’s failure to fulfill its responsibilities and its stance against the Palestinian people’s moral and legal right to self-determination, as well as its failure to initiate a serious process for peace and prevent the expansion of regional conflict.
Al-Rassi stressed the importance of nations engaging in multilateral diplomatic efforts to achieve peace based on the two-state solution and end Israeli occupation. He referenced international law, UN resolutions and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative as fundamental frameworks, emphasizing the so-called land for peace principle that would enable Palestinians to live freely in an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on 1967 borders.
The deputy minister renewed Saudi Arabia’s invitation to peace-loving nations to join the alliance and praised the recent decisions of several countries to recognize Palestine. He urged other countries to similarly cite their support for Palestinian rights and the alliance itself in working to accelerate the implementation of the two-state solution and achieve peace.
Israel’s continued aggression against Palestinians would only expand regional conflict and threaten global stability, Al-Rassi said, and called on permanent Security Council members to use their authority to force Israel to cease its aggression and allow unrestricted humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
The deputy minister strongly condemned the Israeli Knesset’s decision to ban UNRWA operations, describing it as a violation of international law and a dangerous precedent that violated UN member states’ Charter obligations and thus undermined the multilateral international system.
“This is the occupying power’s latest action aimed at undermining Palestinian resilience in their homeland and attempting to forcibly displace Palestinians,” he said.
Al-Rassi reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s support for the UN relief agency and firmly rejected Israel’s systematic targeting of it and other and humanitarian organizations, along with the ongoing endangerment of its workers.
He concluded by expressing his optimism for the initiative and said that the support shown for it at the Riyadh meeting demonstrated a genuine desire for peace and an end to the “brutal war on Gaza and occupied Palestinian territories.”
