UN General Assembly Approves French-Saudi Proposal Supporting Two-state Solution
The resolution received 142 votes in favor and only 10 votes against, with 12 countries choosing to abstain.
The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to endorse the New York Declaration on the implementation of the two-state solution.
A resolution endorsing the declaration of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestinians received 142 votes in favor and 10 votes against it. Twelve countries abstained from voting.
Of the European countries, Hungary is the only one that opposed the resolution, and the Czech Republic abstained. All other European countries voted in favor.
Following the vote, French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X, "Another future is possible. Two peoples, two States: Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security."
Israel's Foreign Ministry wrote that it "utterly rejects the decision," in an X post by the ministry's spokesperson, who called the General Assembly "a political circus detached from reality."
"There is no reference to the simple fact that Hamas is solely responsible for the continuation of the war, through its refusal to return the hostages and disarm," the statement added, saying that the resolution "encourages Hamas to continue the war."
Hours later, the U.S. delegation to the UN released a statement reiterating its opposition to the proposal, calling it "yet another misguided and ill-timed publicity stunt that undermines serious diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. Make no mistake – this resolution is a gift to Hamas. It is likewise cynical, transparently driven by domestic politics rather than a serious foreign policy agenda."
In July, several Western countries announced they are considering recognizing a Palestinian state, as part of the Conference for Advancing the Two-State Solution, led by France and Saudi Arabia.
The vote comes ahead of a meeting of world leaders on the sidelines of the high-level UN General Assembly on September 22, where multiple countries, including Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium are expected to formally recognize a Palestinian state.