UNITED NATIONS: A day after President Donald Trump said the US would take over the Gaza Strip, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing and reaffirmed the two-State solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse. It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing,” Guterres said here Wednesday in his first response to Trump’s surprise announcement that came from the White House during a joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Guterres, in his remarks to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, reaffirmed the two-State solution, saying “any durable peace will require tangible, irreversible and permanent progress toward the two-state solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.