The UN, on its 80th birthday in 2025, can mark the occasion by securing a lasting solution to the conflict in the Middle East, by welcoming the State of Palestine as the 194th UN member state. The upcoming UN Conference on Palestine, set for June 2025, can be a turning point – a decisive, irreversible path towards peace in the Middle East. The Trump administration would greatly serve America’s interests, and the world’s, by championing the two-state solution and a comprehensive Middle East peace deal, at the gathering in New York in June.
Amid Israel’s shocking brutality in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, a small window of hope has nonetheless emerged. Almost the entire world has coalesced around the two-state solution as the key to regional peace. As a result, a comprehensive deal is now within reach.
The UN General Assembly recently adopted a potentially transformative resolution (PDF) by an overwhelming margin. The UNGA demands an end to Israel’s illegal 1967 occupation and reaffirms its unwavering support for the two-state solution. Most importantly, the resolution laid out a roadmap for establishing a Palestinian state at The High-level International Conference (PDF), to be held in June 2025, at the United Nations.
Consider how long the Palestinians, and the world, have waited for this moment. In 1947, the UN first took on the responsibility of addressing the Palestinian question. With Resolution 181 (PDF), the UN General Assembly proposed the partition of Mandatory Palestine into two independent states – one Jewish and one Arab. The proposed partition, alas, was neither fair nor agreed upon by the parties. It allocated 44 percent of the land to the Palestinians though they were 67 percent of the population. Yet before the plan could be revised and settled peacefully, Zionist terror groups began to ethnically cleanse more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes, the so-called Nakba, or catastrophe, of the Palestinian people.
After Israel declared its unilateral independence, and defeated the Arab neighbours in war, a senior UN mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte, tried to resurrect the two-state solution. Yet Bernadotte was assassinated by Lehi, a Zionist paramilitary organisation. Israel signed the 1949 Lausanne Protocol, resurrecting the two-state solution under UN auspices, but then blatantly disregarded it. What ensued instead was Israel’s 75-year quest to deny Palestinians their rights to a homeland.
For decades, the US government, under the guidance of the Israel lobby, presided over a phoney negotiating process. These efforts ostensibly involved direct bilateral talks between an occupying power and an occupied people, inherently unequal parties, in which Israel’s goal was always to reject a truly sovereign Palestinian state. At best, Israel offered “Bantustans,” that is, little powerless enclaves of Palestinians living under Israel’s control. The US-dominated process has continued since the mid-1970s, including the 1978 Camp David Accords, 1991 Madrid Conference, 1993-1995 Oslo Accords, 2000 Camp David Summit, 2003 Quartet Roadmap for Peace, and 2007 Annapolis Conference. In this hall-of-mirrors process, the Israelis have continuously blocked a Palestinian state while the US “mediators” have continuously blamed the Palestinians for their intransigence.
The Trump administration could choose to change the game at the upcoming UN conference – in America’s interest, Israel’s long-term interest and security, and the interest of the Middle East and the world in peace. The US is, in fact, the only remaining veto against a Palestinian state. Israel has no veto on a Palestinian state or on peace for that matter. Only the US has that veto.
Yes, Prime Minister Netanyahu has ideas other than peace. He and his coalition continue to have one purpose: to deny a state of Palestine by expanding Israel’s territorial conquests, now including not only occupied Palestine but also parts of Lebanon and a growing part of Syria.
A new US foreign policy is needed in the Middle East – one that brings about peace rather than endless war. As mandated by the International Court of Justice, and as demonstrated through the General Assembly, G20 (PDF), BRICS (PDF), League of Arab States (PDF), the overwhelming majority of the world favours the two-state solution.
The UN Conference on Palestine is therefore a key and vital opportunity, one that could unlock a comprehensive peace for the Middle East, including seven interconnected measures:
- An immediate UN-mandated ceasefire across all fronts of the conflict, including Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran, and the immediate release of hostages and prisoners of war across all entities.
- The admission of a sovereign State of Palestine as 194th UN member state on the June 4, 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem; the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in 1967, with the simultaneous introduction of UN-mandated international forces and security guarantees to protect all populations.
- The protection of the territorial integrity and stability of Lebanon and Syria, and the full demilitarisation of all non-state forces, and withdrawal of all foreign armies from the respective countries.
- The adoption of an updated Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, and the end of all economic and other sanctions on Iran.
- The termination, including defunding and disarmament of belligerent non-state entities, of all claims or states of belligerency, and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area, (without excluding the possibility of subsequent territorial adjustments, security arrangements, and cooperative forms of governance agreed by the sovereign parties).
- The establishment of regional peace and normalisation of diplomatic relations by all Arab and Islamic states with Israel.
- The establishment of an Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Sustainable Development Fund to support the reconstruction, economic recovery and sustainable development of the region.
After far too many decades of violence and wars, the chance for peace is here and now. The UN’s endeavour for a comprehensive peace is our best hope and opportunity in decades.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
