[IsraelTimes] Dozens of ministers will gather at the United Nations today for a delayed conference to work toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, but the US and Israel are boycotting the event.
Damn straight. The 193-member UN General Assembly decided in September last year that such a conference would be held in 2025. Hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, the conference was postponed in June after Israel attacked Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program.
The conference aims to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel’s security.
The joke going around Israel is that France has plenty of room for as many Palestines as they want, and Israel won’t do anything to prevent them being established on French territory. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told newspaper La Tribune Dimanche in an interview published yesterday that he will also use the conference this week to push other countries to join France in recognizing a Palestinian state.
France intends to recognize a Palestinian state in September at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, President Emmanuel Macron said last week.
“We will launch an appeal in New York so that other countries join us to initiate an even more ambitious and demanding dynamic that will culminate on September 21,” Barrot said, adding that he expected Arab countries by then to condemn Hamas and call for its disarmament.
The US will not attend the conference at the United Nations, says a State Department spokesperson, describing it as “a gift to Hamas, which continues to reject ceasefire proposals accepted by Israel that would lead to the release of hostages and bring calm in Gaza.”
The State Department spokesperson adds that Washington voted against the General Assembly last year calling for the conference and would “not support actions that jeopardize the prospect for a long-term, peaceful resolution to the conflict.”
Israel is also not taking part in the conference, “which doesn’t first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages,” says Jonathan Harounoff, international spokesperson at Israel’s UN mission. 
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