In Palestine, UN Secretary-General says two-state solution 'only way

Unitehttp://www.themuslimchronicle.com/breakingnews/china-at-un-again-urges-talks-with-nkorea-151056d Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday reiterated his call for a political solution to the Middle East conflict that would end Israel's occupation of Palestinian land and would create an independent Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel in peace and security.

"It is my deep belief that it is essential to restart a serious and credible political process of negotiation aiming at that objective – the two-state solution – as it is also important to create conditions on the ground to improve the situation of Palestinian populations," Guterres said at a press conference in Ramallah after meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah.

"A two-state solution that will end the occupation and, with the creation of conditions, also the suffering even to the Palestinian people, is in my opinion the only way to guarantee that peace is established and, at the same time, that two states can live together in security and in mutual recognition," Guterres said.

He said that Israel's settlement activity represented a major obstacle to the implementation of the two-state solution although there are other obstacles.

The UN chief also expressed a concern about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, and pledged to support the effort towards creating conditions for a unified Palestinian leadership both in West Bank and Gaza.

To a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's latest comments on settlements in West Bank, Guterres said "it is clear that there is a disagreement on that matter."

"We believe that settlement activity is illegal under international law [...] it is an obstacle to the two-state solution," he added.