King Abdullah: Middle East security impossible without Palestinian state

NEW YORK – Global solidarity is needed to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which remains the central security issue in the region, Jordan’s King Abdullah told the United Nations on Tuesday.

“The region will continue to suffer until the world lifts the shadow of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the central issue in the Middle East.

“No architecture for regional security and development can stand over the burning ashes of this conflict,” the monarch said as he joined world leaders in taking the stage at the high-level portion of the 78th UN General Assembly’s opening session.

He spoke at a time when the Israeli government does not believe in the creation of a Palestinian state and many Israelis themselves have lost faith in it. Some members of the government consider a Palestinian state to be an existential threat to Israel.

King Abdullah: A two-state solution is the only viable option

King Abdullah, however, joined the voices at the UN, who argued that a two-state resolution to the conflict at the pre-1967 lines, including east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, remained the only viable option.

“Without clarity on where the Palestinian future lies, it’s impossible to converge on a political solution to this conflict,” the Hashemite leader said, as he noted that “five million Palestinians live under occupation.”

It’s a number that would have to refer to Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem.

These people have “no civil rights, no freedom of mobility, no say in their lives. Yet every UN resolution since the beginning of this conflict recognizes the equal rights of the Palestinian people to a future of peace, dignity, and hope.”

A “two-state solution is the only path to a comprehensive lasting peace,” he explained.

Abdullah said Palestinians can “see the Israeli people actively defending and engaging the expression of their national identity and yet the Palestinian people are deprived of the same right to express and build their own national identity.”

The delay in the realization of Palestinian statehood has “brought endless cycles of violence,” and the year 2023 has been “the deadliest for the Palestinian people for the past 16 years.”

It has also undermined Palestinian belief in a solution or in support from the international community, Abdullah stated.

How can “people trust in global justice while settlement building, land confiscations, home demolitions continue,” he said. “Where is the global solidarity to make UN resolutions believable by people in need of our help?” he asked.

The king called on the global community to help preserve Jerusalem’s place as the city of faith and peace, particularly given its connection to the three major monotheistic religions: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

He also called for UN member states to support the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees and the schools that it runs for Palestinian refugee children.

The Israeli Right has argued that UNRWA schools have not prevented their institutions from using educational material that incites against Israel and promotes antisemitism. UNRWA has rejected such claims.

Abdullah said UNRWA schools were essential to prevent Palestinian extremism.

“We must protect young Palestinians from extremists that prey on their frustrations and hopelessness by making sure that they continue to learn under the [UNRWA] schools,” he said.

Otherwise, the alternative for young Palestinians is the black flags of terror, hate, and extremists,” he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his UNGA address pledged that Turkey would continue “to support the Palestinian people in their struggle for legitimate rights under international law.”

“Without the realization of an independent and integrated Palestinian state, based on the 1967 borders, it is difficult for Israel to find the peace and security it seeks.”

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, told the UNGA that it is “unacceptable for the Palestinian people to continue to languish under the yolk and the intransigence of the Israeli occupation and the rejection by consecutive Israeli governments of any just political solution according to international legitimacy.

Israel “responds to Arab peace and normalization initiatives with more nationalist and ultra-orthodox intransigence and extremism,” he added.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.