Frustrated Palestinian foreign minister questions international community's sincerity for two-state solution

By Betul Yuruk

UNITED NATIONS (AA) - Frustrated with the Israeli occupation, Palestine questioned on Tuesday the international community's sincerity for a two-state solution.

"How can any country that supports the two-state solution and peace justify not recognizing till now the state of Palestine without which there is no two-state solution," Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told a UN Security Council meeting. "If you don't recognize the state of Palestine now when it is under vital threat, when will you do it?"

He said Palestine was facing the most protracted protection crisis in the world and the longest occupation of an entire territory in modern history.

"We cannot co-exist with occupation," he said.

Maliki said the international community has adopted clear positions but did not back them with decisive action.

"There is nothing that undermines more the authority and credibility of international law than double standards and selectivity," he added.

Israel's UN envoy Gilad Erdan lashed out at the UN Security Council for holding the debate on Israel's Memorial Day despite requests not to do so.

He read the names of the Israelis who were killed over the past year and walked out of the meeting in protest.

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland said the current trajectory is neither sustainable nor inevitable.

"The parties, the region and the international community need to address the underlying political, security, economic and institutional challenges driving the conflict," he said.

"There must be an end to the unilateral measures, provocations and incitement that enable violence and prevent progress toward resolving this conflict and ending the occupation," he added.