Ireland calls for seizing opportunity to implement 2-state solution
'We need to see an immediate ceasefire. We need to see an immediate release of hostages, and we need to see massive humanitarian aid into Gaza at scale,' foreign minister says at UN conference
File Photo from pro-Palestinian protest in Belfast, Northern Ireland
LONDON
Ireland on Monday voiced concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza that has reached "new depths," and called for seizing the opportunity to implement the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached new depths, new depths of despair and new depths of misery," Emer Higgins, minister of state at the Department of Public Expenditure, told a high-level conference on Palestinian statehood at the UN headquarters in New York.
Expressing her appreciation to Türkiye for their "excellent cooperation," the Irish minister said as co-chairs of Working Group 6, both Ireland and Türkiye are engaged broadly with member states and stakeholders.
She said that this conference, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, is an opportunity to bring a renewed sense of urgency and demonstrate a spirit of shared responsibility for seeking a political solution to this "absolutely devastating" conflict.
Mass starvation in Gaza is spreading right across the population, and that is an "affront to our collective humanity," Higgins said.
"We need to see an immediate ceasefire. We need to see an immediate release of hostages, and we need to see massive humanitarian aid into Gaza at scale," she added.
Higgins said a two-state solution is the "only pathway" to a just and lasting peace, and that is in accordance with international law and UN resolutions.
She argued that there should be no forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, and there was strong consensus on the need to address illegal settlements in West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and strong condemnation of any attempts at annexation.
There must be accountability for violent settlers and for those who support and facilitate them," said Higgins, adding there must also be accountability for Hamas.
"We must now seize this opportunity to end the devastating cycles of violence and make good on our commitments to implement once and for all the two-state solution in the interests of both Israelis and Palestinians," the state minister said.
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