The United Nations General Assembly supports a Palestinian state, but without Hamas

On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a “New York Declaration” to give a new push for a two -state solution in the Palestinian -Israeli conflict with Hamas’s exclusion for the first time in an unambiguous manner, in a move that Israel and the United States rushed to attack.

While Israel has been criticizing for nearly two years the inability of the United Nations General Assembly and the UN Security Council to condemn the unprecedented attacks by the Palestinian movement on October 7, 2023, the text prepared by France and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was approved by a majority of 142 supporters compared to 10 opposition votes (including Israel and the United States) and 12 countries abstaining from voting, clear in this field.

“We condemn the attacks by Hamas on the seventh of October against civilians,” the text of the statement said.

The announcement, signed by 17 countries, including Arab countries, in July, during the first part of a United Nations conference on a two -state solution, goes further.

“In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international participation and support, in line with the goal of establishing a state of Palestine that is independent and sovereign.”

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, commented on the approval of the “New York Declaration”, calling on Israel to “hear the voice of reason” and “the message that resonated in an unambiguous manner in this association.”

Palestinian Vice President Hussein Al -Sheikh also considered that the United Nations General Assembly’s vote “expresses the international will supporting the rights of our people, and constitutes an important step towards ending the occupation, and embodying our independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the adoption of the United Nations General Assembly “The New York Declaration”, and considered it a step in a “irreversible path towards peace.”

But this message was not convinced Israel or the United States.

“The decision does not enhance the peace solution, but rather, it encourages Hamas to continue the war,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Orine Marmagen on X.

As for American diplomacy, Morgan Ortigos, she considered that this declaration constitutes a “gift of Hamas” and “another propaganda trick” “that undermines serious efforts to end the conflict.”

The vote comes a few days before a summit on the Palestinian issue will participate in Paris and Riyadh in its presidency on September 22nd at the United Nations, and Emmanuel Macron has previously promised his country to recognize the Palestinian state during it.

“Shield” against criticism

Richard Guan of the “International Chrysis Group” group stressed that “supporting the general assembly of a text condemning Hamas is important,” even if the Israelis consider this “very little and very late.”

He explained to Agence France Presse that thanks to this text, the countries that support the Palestinians can “refute the Israeli accusations that they consider Hamas implicitly,” stressing that “this provides a protective shield from Israel’s criticism” to the parties that are preparing to recognize the state of Palestine.

After the French President, several countries announced that it would recognize the State of Palestine during the week of the leaders of the state within the framework of the United Nations General Assembly, which kicks off on September 22.

This is seen as an additional way to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza, which broke out after Hamas’s attack in southern Israel in October 2023.

Also, the “New York Declaration”, which was adopted on Friday, calls for “the end of the war in Gaza immediately” and to “settle the Israeli -Palestinian conflict, a fair, peaceful and permanent settlement based on the actual implementation of the two -state solution.”

In the context of a possible ceasefire, the announcement supports “the deployment of a temporary international mission to establish stability” in Gaza with a mandate from the UN Security Council that would “provide protection to the Palestinian civilian population, support the transfer of internal security responsibilities of the Palestinian Authority, and to support capacity building in favor of the Palestinian state and provide security guarantees for Palestine and Israel.”

About three quarters of 193 countries recognize the United Nations General Assembly of the State of Palestine announced in 1988.

However, there are growing concerns that the devastating war that has been going on almost two years in the Gaza Strip and the expansion of Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank are undermining the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was very clear by saying, “There will be no Palestinian state” in the past Washington, the main ally of Israel, that she confirmed that it will not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to come to Washington.