Politics

Guterres says Israel’s refusal to recognize Palestinian state is ‘unacceptable’

Kampala, Jan 20 (EFE).- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Saturday that the Israeli government’s refusal to accommodate the creation of a Palestinian state is “unacceptable.”

“The refusal to accept a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, and the denial of the right to statehood for the Palestinian people, are unacceptable,” Guterres said at the closing ceremony of the 19th Summit of the Non Aligned Movement in Kampala.

“This would indefinitely prolong a conflict that has become a major threat to global peace and security; exacerbate polarization; and embolden extremists everywhere,” he stressed at the Speke Convention Center, which hosted the meeting in the south of the Ugandan capital.

The UN chief reiterated his call for an immediate cease-fire and the “Iimmediate and unconditional release of all hostages” held by the Islamic group Hamas.

Gueterres’ comments came in response to remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Thursday that Israel “must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River,” referring to the West Bank, which Israel has occupied against international law since 1967.

The war between Israel and Hamas erupted on Oct. 7 after the Islamist group launched an attack that killed 1,200 people inside Israeli territory and took at least 240 people hostage.

Since then, the Israeli military offensive on Gaza has resulted in more than 24,600 confirmed deaths among Palestinians, including thousands of children.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening due to shortages of food, drinking water, basic supplies and fuel caused by Israel’s blockade of the enclave and its slow process of inspecting aid trucks entering the territory.

In his address to NAM leaders, Guterres also lamented that “democracy is eroding, while populism and extremism are increasing,” that poverty and social inequalities are growing, and that human rights and international law “are being flouted with impunity.”

The Secretary-General also reiterated his call for a reform of the “outdated, unjust and unfair global financial system” so that all countries benefit.

The leaders of the NAM condemned Israeli military aggression and rejected colonialism, occupation and domination of the Palestinian territories.

In the Kampala Declaration, the movement called for a comprehensive transformation of organizations such as the UN and international financial institutions to better represent the countries of the global South.

The possibility of reforming the Security Council has been discussed at the UN for more than thirty years, but little progress has been made, with numerous competing proposals on the table and no serious negotiations ever taking place.

The Council is composed of fifteen members: five permanent members with veto power (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia) and ten non-permanent members assigned to regional groups that rotate for two-year terms.

The NAM, one of the largest organizations of states in the world, is made up of 53 countries from Africa, 39 from Asia, 26 from Latin America and the Caribbean, and two from Europe.

It was founded in the midst of the Cold War, when heads of state of many newly independent countries sought to avoid joining either of the two major power blocs led by the United States and the Soviet Union. EFE

pm/ics

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