Saudi Arabia forms global alliance to push for Israeli Palestinian two state solution

Espen Barth Eide told The Associated Press that “there is a growing consensus in the international community from Western countries, from Arab countries, from the Global South, that we need to establish a Palestinian Authority, a Palestinian government, a Palestinian state — and the Palestinian state has to be recognized.”

Eide said many issues need to be addressed, including the security interests of Israel and the Palestinians, recognition and normalization of relations after decades of conflict and the demobilization of Hamas as a military group.

“These are pieces of a bigger puzzle,” Norway’s chief diplomat said. “And you can’t just come in there with one of these pieces, because it only works if all the pieces are laid in place.”

But even if the puzzle is completed, it’s unlikely to gain traction with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long been opposed to a Palestinian state. Israel also argues that pushing ahead with such a move now would be a reward for terror in the wake of the October 7 massacre by Hamas that killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

Still, Eide believes that after decades of failed or stalled negotiations, “we need to take a new approach” to achieving an independent Palestinian state.

To accelerate work on these issues, Eide said almost 90 countries attended a meeting Thursday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s current gathering of world leaders. He and Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister co-chaired the session to launch “The Global Alliance for the Implementation of a Palestinian State and a Two-State Solution.”

“We have to see how we can come out of this deadlock and try to use this deep crisis also as an opportunity to move forward,” Eide told a UN Security Council meeting on Gaza later Friday.

Norway is the guarantor of the 1993 Oslo Accords, hailed as a breakthrough in the decades-long conflict between Arabs and Jews, which created the Palestinian Authority and set up self-rule areas in the Palestinian Authority. Eide said more than 30 years later, Israel’s “occupation” is continuing, and there are no negotiations leading to a final settlement and an independent Palestinian state — which led to Norway’s decision in May to recognize a Palestinian state.

Now, 149 of the UN’s 193 member nations have recognized a Palestinian state. Eide urged all countries “to contribute to universal recognition” and strengthen Palestinian institutions so they live up to the expectations of people in the West Bank and are prepared to return to Gaza: “We want one Palestine, not different Palestines,” he said.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud told the UN Security Council on Friday that his country, the joint Islamic-Arab ministerial committee, Norway and the European Union launched the alliance “because we feel responsible to act to change the reality of the conflict without delay.”

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last week the kingdom would not recognise Israel without a Palestinian state and strongly condemned the "crimes of the Israeli occupation" against the Palestinian people.
Israel and Hamas have been waging war since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing some 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies.

Israel responded with a military offensive in Gaza in which more than 41,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities. Israel says it will press on with its intensified campaign against Lebanon's Hezbollah, after nearly a year of cross-border fire in parallel with the Gaza war.

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