Riyadh, October 30, 2024- Saudi Arabia will convene the inaugural meeting of a newly formed “International Alliance to Implement the Two-State Solution” on Wednesday, a coalition aimed at advancing the creation of an independent Palestinian state. The alliance, launched on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month, includes Arab and Islamic nations alongside several European countries, according to Saudi state media.
The two-day event in Riyadh will address critical topics, including humanitarian access, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, and strategies to foster a two-state solution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sven Koopmans, the EU’s special representative for the Middle East peace process, will participate on behalf of the European Union, as confirmed by diplomatic sources.
The ongoing Gaza conflict has renewed discussions on the two-state solution — a vision of Israel and a future Palestinian state coexisting peacefully. However, experts highlight that the prospect appears increasingly remote, especially given the stance of Israel’s current hard-right government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which opposes Palestinian statehood.
Saudi Arabia, a key player in the Middle East and custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites, had paused US-mediated negotiations on recognizing Israel in response to the recent hostilities between Hamas and Israel. In September, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader, underscored that Saudi normalization with Israel would require progress toward an “independent Palestinian state.”
The alliance meeting in Riyadh follows actions by Ireland, Norway, Spain, and Slovenia, which announced formal recognition of a Palestinian state earlier this year. With these recent additions, 146 of the 193 United Nations member countries now recognize Palestine as a state, a move that has drawn opposition from Israel.
The Gaza conflict was reignited by Hamas’s large-scale assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed over 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians, according to official Israeli reports. In retaliation, Israeli strikes in Gaza have resulted in over 43,000 Palestinian fatalities, primarily civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which the United Nations considers a reliable source for these statistics.
