Saudi envoy tells UN Security Council two-state solution only path to lasting Mideast peace
NEW YORK: The Saudi permanent representative to the UN told the Security Council on Thursday that the Palestinian issue remains at the heart of the Middle East conflict, warning that genuine peace cannot be achieved without ending Israel’s occupation.
Speaking on behalf of the Arab Group at a council meeting on Gaza, Abdulaziz Alwasil said lasting peace requires that Palestinians exercise their “legitimate and inalienable rights,” foremost an independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He voiced “extreme concern” over continuing Israeli violations in the Occupied Territories, citing the targeting of civilians, settlement expansion, land confiscation, home demolitions, displacement and annexation, warning that these threaten regional and international stability.
The Arab Group rejected all Israeli measures aimed at entrenching the occupation or imposing sovereignty over Palestinian territory, calling them “null and void” and a clear violation of international law and the UN Charter.
