An International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two State Solution will be held in New York on June 17-20, 2025. On 23 May, diplomats convened at UN Headquarters in New York to lay the groundwork for this crucial conference which is aimed at advancing global efforts towards achieving a two-State solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The conference is the consequence of a decision by the UN General Assembly and it is expected to produce an action-oriented outcome document. The co-chairs will be France and Saudi Arabia. They have emphasised the need for the conference to go beyond reaffirming principles and achieve concrete results on the ground.

Middle East and North Africa advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron, Anne-Claire Legendre, reiterated calls for a lasting ceasefire, an immediate influx of humanitarian aid and the release of hostages. She said:

“We must urgently move from words to deeds. We must move from ending the war in Gaza to ending the conflict itself. Faced with the facts on the ground, the prospects of a Palestinian State must be maintained. Irreversible steps and concrete measures for the implementation thereof are necessary.”

Manal bint Hassan Radwan, head of the Saudi Arabian negotiating team, called the moment “historic,” stating that the preparatory meeting must “chart a course for action, not reflection.”

“Civilians continue to pay the price of a war that must end immediately. The escalation in the West Bank is equally alarming. Despair grows deeper by the day,” she said.

“This is precisely why we must speak not only of ending the war, but of ending a conflict that has lasted nearly eight decades,” she continued, adding efforts to end fighting and secure release of hostages and detainees must be “anchored in a credible and irreversible political plan that addresses the root cause of the conflict and offers a real path to peace, dignity and mutual security.”

More information from 23 May on the UN News website.

Speech by Stephen Hickey, Director for Middle East and North Africa in the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office on 23 May.