UN Secretary General: Rejecting The Recognition Of Palestinian Countries Is A Gift For Extremists Everywhere

JAKARTA - United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres revealed that there has been significant progress in resolving the war by Israel in Gaza.

Guterres mengatakan konflik yang telah berlangsung puluhan tahun di Gaza telah mencapai titik yang "untungan secara moral, hukum, dan politik".

On the one hand, he continued, the death toll of Gazan civilians continues to increase and the West Bank is increasingly unstable due to the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements.

"We are here today to help navigate the only way out of this nightmare," Guterres said at the UN Summit for the 'Palestinian Peaceful Settlement of Problems' at the UN General Assembly Hall, New York, United States (US), Monday local time. , quoted from AN.

To that end, Guterres stressed the UN-backed vision regarding the solution of the two independent, sovereign and democratic countries between Palestine and Israel coexisting peacefully within a safe and recognized border based on the lines before 1967, with Jerusalem as the common capital.

Guterres said the UN summit for the "Palestinian Peaceful Settlement of Problems" initiated jointly by France and Saudi Arabia marks the most integrated international push in recent months to revive momentum towards negotiated peace.

Guterres also thanked France and Saudi Arabia for holding the meeting.

Furthermore, he reiterated his disappointment that the Palestinian delegation was indirectly challenged to the meeting in New York because the US Government rejected the visa of the Palestinian delegation at the United Nations.

Guterres then condemned Hamas' attack on Israel, including Israel's retaliation for military operations since October 2023 to Gaza which has left 65,208 Palestinians dead as of Saturday, September 21, 2025.

"No one can justify collective penalties against the Palestinian people or any form of ethnic cleansing," he said.

He also condemned the ongoing killing of civilians and humanitarian workers in Israeli military operations in Gaza, including the Israeli government's policy of curbing aid for Gaza refugees, causing acute hunger to malnutrition to hit toddlers.

"All of that must be stopped," said Guterres.

Guterres then highlighted the expansion of Jewish settlements with Israel's ongoing support, causing violence against indigenous Palestinians and the de facto annexation of the West Bank to pose an "existent threat" to the possibility of a two-state solution being realized.

"The state for Palestine is a right, not a gift," he said.

"Rejecting statehood will be a gift for extremists everywhere," Guterres continued.

He added: "This conference should be a catalyst. This conference should spur inevitable progress towards ending the illegal occupation and realizing our shared aspirations for a viable two-state solution."

"Without two countries, there will be no peace in the Middle East and radicalism will spread throughout the world," Guterres said.

The UN summit for the 'Palestinian Peaceful Settlement' is taking place amid growing international concerns over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, in which tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israel, most of which of the dead were women and children.