The UN has scheduled a high-level conference on the two-state solution in New York, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France. The conference was set to take place on June 17-20, 2025, but has since been postponed with a new date yet to be announced. As detailed below, the original aim of the conference was to obtain recognition of a Palestinian state from UN member states. However, on June 7, 2025, The Guardian reported that the conference had “weakened its ambition” and would “instead hope to agree on steps towards recognition.”
Why Unilateral Recognition of a Palestinian State is Counterproductive to Peace
- Encourages Palestinian intransigence. The Oslo Accords is the treaty that governs the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians. It obligates the Palestinians to negotiate final status issues with Israel, including borders — a prerequisite for Palestinian statehood. Since Oslo, the Palestinians have categorically rejected all offers of statehood that have been put on the table. Granting statehood to the Palestinians without demanding of them to engage in good faith negotiations with Israel rewards their intransigence.
- Prioritizes Palestinian statehood over Israeli security. Israel’s right to security and the Palestinians’ obligations to combat terrorism are key components of the Oslo Accords, which are completely ignored both by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its July 19, 2024 advisory opinion and by the UN in its resolutions setting this upcoming conference and its modalities. Palestinian statehood cannot come at the expense of Israel’s right to secure borders and the safety and security of its citizens.
- Rewards October 7th atrocities. The timing of this conference, as Hamas continues to hold 56 hostages and Israel’s war against the terror group in Gaza is ongoing, can only be seen as a reward for the horrific October 7, 2023 atrocities which will incentivize more Palestinian terrorism.
- Fails to address so-called “Right of Return.” The issue of Palestinian refugees and the so-called “right of return” is a final status issue under the Oslo Accords that must be resolved through negotiations. As it is taught in schools—whether run by the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, or UNRWA—implementation of the “right of return” looks like October 7th, i.e., a violent invasion of Israel and massacre of its citizens. Peace can be achieved only if the Palestinians relinquish their so-called “right of return” and stop inciting their children to hatred and violence. Palestinian statehood alone will not bring peace.
- Belies established principles of international law. The Montevideo Convention sets out the requirements for statehood, which include having a “defined territory.” The so-called State of Palestine fails to satisfy this requirement as it does not possess a defined territory. While many in the international community simplistically refer to the pre-1967 armistice lines as borders, these are not and never were borders. The UN Security Council recognized this in Resolution 242 which contemplated “Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories [not “the” territories] occupied in the recent conflict.” Moreover, the Oslo Accords made clear that borders were to be agreed by the parties in final status negotiations. The international community lacks the authority to unilaterally declare the borders of a future Palestinian state.
General Assembly Creates Conference
On September 18, 2024, the UNGA adopted resolution A/RES/ES-10/24 titled Advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and from the illegality of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This was one of 17 resolutions adopted by the General Assembly against Israel in 2024 with only 6 on the entire rest of the world.
Resolution ES-10/24 endorsed the flawed July 19, 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice declaring the Israeli occupation to be unlawful under international law and demanding that Israel unilaterally withdraw from the so-called Occupied Palestinian Territory (i.e., the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza) — “Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible.” Resolution ES-10/24 went even further than the advisory opinion, setting a deadline of 12 months from the adoption of that resolution for Israel to “end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
In furtherance of that demand, resolution ES-10/24 decided to convene “an international conference under the auspices of the [General] Assembly for the implementation of the United Nations resolutions pertaining to the question of Palestine and the two-State solution…” On December 3, 2024, the General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/79/81 titled Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine, which welcomed the decision in resolution ES-10/24 to convene that conference and sets out the modalities for the conference in an annex.
According to the modalities in the annex, the conference will be entitled High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution. It will take place in June 2025 in New York, is to be co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, and is open to participation by all UN member states and observers, as well as UN entities. The Secretary-General and UNGA President “are encouraged to give the highest visibility to the Conference.”
The modalities state that the conference “will adopt an action-oriented outcome document” the purpose of which is to “urgently chart an irreversible pathway towards the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-State solution.”
Palestinian UN Rep: Conference Intended to Enforce July 2024 ICJ Advisory Opinion
At a February 5, 2025 meeting of the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), Palestinian representative to the UN Riyad Mansour said he planned to work with UN member states to ensure the conference achieves the “the objectives established by the International Court of Justice” which had “determined that prolonged occupation of the Palestinian Territory is unlawful and must be terminated as quickly as possible.”
Conference Co-Chairs Saudi Arabia and France Confirm Purpose of Conference was to Achieve Recognition for Palestinian Statehood
On April 12, 2025, the two co-chairs, Saudi Arabia and France, held an initial briefing on the conference at UN Headquarters in New York. Saudi ambassador Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Wasel reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to a two-state solution and announced the formation of working groups to address key substantive issues. During the meeting, several delegations emphasized the importance of “tangible outcomes” from the conference, such as “recognition of the State of Palestine” and “increased support for the Palestinian government and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).”
A few days earlier, on April 9, French President Emmanuel Macron had confirmed that recognition of a Palestinian state was one of the goals of the conference. He indicated that France planned to recognize a Palestinian state.
At a preparatory session on May 23, 2025, the French representative said “We must urgently move from words to deeds. We must move from ending the war in Gaza to ending the conflict itself.” The Saudi Arabian similarly stated “We must speak not only of ending the war, but of ending a conflict that has lasted nearly eight decades” and called to address “the root causes of the conflict.”
