UN warns of losing opportunity for two-state solution

By Mohammad Tareq

ANKARA (AA) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of losing the opportunity for the two-state solution between the Palestinians and Israel.

"We have issued this warning several times, and we hope that the world leaders act in accordance with this," his spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement.

Haq reiterated that the UN continues to put pressure for "the implementation of the two-state solution," and that the lack of solution would create more problems on the ground.

On Friday, US President Joe Biden said after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem that the two-state solution "seems far away."

"I know the goal of the two states seems so far away while indignities like restrictions on movement and travel or the daily worry of your children’s safety are real and immediate. The Palestinians are hurting now. You can just feel it…There must be a political horizon,” said Biden.

He, however, said that his administration "will not give up on trying to bring the Palestinians and Israelis and both sides closer together."

US-sponsored peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis collapsed in 2014 over Israel’s refusal to halt settlement building and release Palestinians imprisoned before 1993.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar