© 1949 UN Archives Photographer
A convoy of trucks carries refugees and their belongings from Gaza to Hebron in the West Bank.
After nearly two years of war in Gaza, the suffering of its residents shows no sign of easing. As Israel launches a major ground offensive in the north of the enclave, attention once again turns to the United Nations.
On September 22, at the UN Headquarters in New York, a world summit of Heads of State and Government – sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia – will attempt to revive the long-stalled “two-State solution”: one Israeli, one Palestinian, coexisting within secure and recognized borders.
In an April address to the Security Council[1], UN Secretary-General António Guterres[2] warned that the process is “at risk of vanishing altogether.” Political will to achieve the goal, he said, “feels more distant than ever”.
However, in a recent exchange with reporters, the UN chief asked: “What is the alternative? Is it a one-State solution in which either the Palestinians are expelled or the Palestinians will be forced to live in their land without rights?”
He underscored that it was “the duty of the international community to keep the two-State solution alive and then to materialise the conditions to make it happen”.
UN Photo
A refugee family in Khan Yunis in the Gaza area of Southern Palestine (1948-1949)
What’s being discussed
- The idea of establishing one nation each for Jewish and Palestinian populations, living alongside each other in peace, predates the UN’s founding in 1945. Drafted and redrafted since then, the concept appears in dozens of UN Security Council resolutions, multiple peace talks and in the General Assembly’s recently resumed tenth emergency special session.
- In 1947, Great Britain relinquished its mandate over Palestine and brought the “Palestinian Question[3]” to the United Nations, which accepted the responsibility of finding a just solution for the Palestine issue. The United Nations proposed the partitioning of Palestine into two independent states, one Palestinian Arab and the other Jewish, with Jerusalem internationalised, acting as a framework for the two-State solution.
- A Peace conference was convened in Madrid in 1991, with the aim of achieving a peaceful settlement through direct negotiations along two tracks: between Israel and the Arab States and between Israel and the Palestinians, based on Security Council resolutions 242[4] (1967) and 338[5] (1973).
- In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Accord, which outlined principles for further negotiations and laid the foundation for a Palestinian interim self-government in the West Bank and Gaza.
- The 1993 Oslo Accord deferred certain issues[6] to subsequent permanent status negotiations, which were held in 2000 at Camp David and in 2001 in Taba, but proved inconclusive.
- Three decades on from the Oslo Accord, the overarching goal of the United Nations remains[7] supporting Palestinians and Israelis to resolve the conflict and end the occupation in line with relevant UN resolutions, international law and bilateral agreements in pursuit of achieving the vision of two States – Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian State – living side by side in peace and security within secure and recognised borders, on the basis of the pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem as the capital of both States.
Learn more about the origins of the two-State solution and key issues at stake here[8] or check out a timeline here[9].
IRIN/Andreas Hackl
A settler woman walks past an Israeli soldier standing guard in East Jerusalem. Photo: IRIN/Andreas Hackl (file photo)
What to expect from the September 22 summit
Held on the opening day of the UN General Assembly’s high-level week – the annual September gathering of world leaders – the initiative comes amid a deeply worrying regional backdrop: intensified Israeli military operations that have killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza since October 7, 2023; the determination of famine in northern Gaza on August 22; Israel’s strikes against Hamas officials in Qatar on September 9; and accelerating settlement expansion in the West Bank.
Despite the volatile regional context, the two-state solution is regaining diplomatic traction.
On September 12, the General Assembly adopted by a wide margin the “New York Declaration,” following a July conference also co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia. It called for “just and lasting peace grounded in international law and based on the two-state solution.”
To end the war, it urged Hamas to “end its role in Gaza, and handover its weapons to the Palestinian Authority.” The United States and Israel, which had boycotted the July conference, voted against the text.
The September 22 summit will likely build on that momentum: French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce France’s recognition of the State of Palestine, and several other Western countries, including the UK, Canada, Belgium, and Australia, are reportedly considering following suit.
In short: the summit’s impact could inject new momentum into efforts to establish a UN roadmap towards two states.
© UN News (2025) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: UN News[10]
References
- ^ Security Council (main.un.org)
- ^ Secretary-General António Guterres (www.un.org)
- ^ Palestinian Question (www.un.org)
- ^ resolutions 242 (documents-dds-ny.un.org)
- ^ 338 (documents-dds-ny.un.org)
- ^ issues (www.un.org)
- ^ remains (unsco.unmissions.org)
- ^ here (www.un.org)
- ^ here (www.un.org)
- ^ Original source: UN News (news.un.org)
- ^ ‘Warring world crying out for peace’ says UN chief as leaders gather in New York (www.globalissues.org)
- ^ UN chief sounds alarm over worsening crisis in Sudan’s El Fasher (www.globalissues.org)
- ^ What to know ahead of the UN summit on the Question of Palestine (www.globalissues.org)
- ^ UN ‘high seas’ treaty clears ratification threshold, to enter into force in January (www.globalissues.org)
- ^ To Sanctify Bigotry: The Case of Charlie Kirk (www.globalissues.org)
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- ^ Frontline of a Planetary Emergency: Africa Demands Climate Justice and Action (www.globalissues.org)
- ^ Outsourcing Cruelty: Trump’s Mass Deportation Machine (www.globalissues.org)
- ^ New Report Investigates Violence Against Women and Girls Through Surrogacy, Sparks Global Dialogue (www.globalissues.org)
- ^ World Leaders Should Commit to Human Rights, International Justice (www.globalissues.org)
- ^ What to know ahead of the UN summit on the Question of Palestine (www.globalissues.org)