By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
TEHRAN/JERUSALEM/RIYADH (Worthy News) – Saudi Arabia has hosted the first high-level gathering of a new global coalition to press for a Palestinian state after Iran urged the world to stand up against Israel.
Unveiled last month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution unites nations from the Middle East, Europe, and beyond.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Wednesday that nearly 90 “states and international organizations” were participating in the two-day meeting in Riyadh.
Among them was the 27-nation European Union, represented by Sven Koopmans, the special representative for the Middle East peace process.
The U.S., Israel’s closest ally, sent Hady Amr, the State Department’s special representative for Palestinian affairs.
Faisal urged the nations to “exert all effort to reach a two-state solution” as “issuing condemnations against Israel and proposing partial solutions are no longer viable.”
His comments came just days after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei appealed to the world to form a military coalition “if necessary” against Israel after the Jewish nation struck army sites in Iran on Saturday, killing at least four military personnel.
WORLD COALITION
In comments reviewed by Worthy News on Monday, Khamenei said: “The world should form a coalition, a political coalition, an economic coalition, and if necessary, a military coalition against the war crimes of the Zionist regime, an evil regime that is committing the most savage war crimes today.”
Though tensions with Tehran remain, Prince Faisal seems to agree with these views, saying: “A genocide is happening with the goal of evicting the Palestinian people from their land, which Saudi Arabia rejects,” he said, describing the humanitarian situation as “catastrophic” and denouncing the “complete blockade” of northern Gaza.
Israel has rejected accusations of genocide, saying the goal of the ongoing operation is to “eliminate terror group Hamas” and rescue 251 hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023.
The Hamas assault killed some 1,200 people, described as the “worst atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust,” also known as the Shoah.
However, the Israel-Hamas war triggered by the massacre has revived talk of a “two-state solution” in which Israeli and Palestinian states would live side by side, though analysts say the goal seems more unattainable than ever.
The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains opposed to Palestinian statehood in the current circumstances, saying it would reward “the monsters of Hamas.”
The decision by Ireland, Norway, and Spain to announce their recognition of a Palestinian state in May prompted an angry response from Israel, which cast it as a prize for terrorism.
SLOVENIA JOINING
Slovenia soon joined them, bringing the number of countries recognizing a Palestinian state to 146 out of the 193 United Nations member states.
Yet, like Netanyahu, polls suggest that many Israelis share distrust toward Palestinian statehood following decades of terrorism, culminating in the October 7 massacre.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and custodian of what Islam regards as its “two holiest sites,” paused U.S.-brokered talks on recognizing Israel after the war broke out between Hamas and Israel.
However, last month, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said an “independent Palestinian state” was a condition for normalization.
He and others say Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, which Hamas-run authorities claim killed more than 43,000 Palestinians and injured more than 100,000 others.
At least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble throughout the Strip, according to Palestinian sources.
These figures have been difficult to verify, and the Hamas-run Health Ministry doesn’t differentiate between killed fighters and civilians.
Amid the human suffering, Saudi Arabia said it sees “a vital role” for the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
However, Israel moved this week to ban the UNRWA after a U.N. investigation concluded that at least nine employees “may have been involved” in last year’s Hamas massacre in Israel.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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