Previewing the “Two-State Solution” Conference: Is the Nightmare of Oslo Set to Repeat?
The international conference on the State Solution for Palestine, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, will officially begin on Monday at the United Nations headquarters in New York and will last for two days.
A French diplomat who was interviewing reporters in New York said: The conference will be held at the level of foreign ministers, and its second round at the level of heads of state will be held during the sessions of the United Nations General Assembly in New York or in Paris in the last week of September. The conference was scheduled to be held between June 17 and 20, but was postponed due to the Iran-Israel war.
Recognition of the State of Palestine: From Slogan to Action
Riyad Mansour, the representative of the Palestinian Authority to the United Nations in New York, said on Saturday in an interview with Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed: The Palestinian Authority has high hopes for the State Solution Conference and its results, and these hopes include paying attention to influential countries that take fundamental steps to end the Israeli occupation, including steps such as recognizing the state of Palestine and military and commercial pressure on Israel.
However, many stakeholders and experts question the seriousness of the conference unless it is followed up with clear and serious steps and real commitments. Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, the Pakistani ambassador and current president of the Security Council, expressed cautious optimism about the State-Based Solution Conference, saying: “This conference is an important opportunity at this stage and aims to achieve what the Security Council has failed to achieve: fulfilling commitments to maintain international peace and security, providing a political vision for the future of Palestine, implementing the two-state solution and long-term peace and stability in the Middle East.”
He added: “We have high expectations from this conference and it is supposed to present a comprehensive agenda, the most important of which are the recognition of the State of Palestine, concrete steps towards achieving the two-state solution and supporting the State of Palestine through humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, economic assistance and building state institutions.”
Meanwhile, France is trying to promote this optimism, and President Emmanuel Macron preempted the two-state solution conference last Thursday by announcing his intention to recognize the state of Palestine during the high-level sessions of the UN General Assembly in New York next September. He said in a letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas: “Ultimately, we must build the state of Palestine, guarantee its viability and allow security to be established throughout the Middle East by agreeing to disarm the Palestinian resistance and fully recognize Israel.”
Is a new “Oslo” on the way?
Nevertheless, the French side has set the stage for the two-state solution conference that seems to be similar to the Western positions since the Oslo Accords of 1993 and offers nothing new. The West is trying to repeat the Oslo Accords, despite the failure of the Oslo Accords and their violation by the Zionist regime, to hurt the Palestinian side or pressure it to gain the most concessions in light of the expansion of the genocidal war and starvation against Gaza.