Time Running Out for Peace, Secretary-General Tells Palestinian Rights Committee, Urging Two-State Solution, End to Occupation

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks to the opening session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in New York today:

My congratulations to the Bureau members on their election. For 50 years, this Committee has stood firm in defending a simple truth: the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people - including the right to self-determination - must be realized and respected. Fully, consistently and without delay.

We enter 2026 with the clock ticking louder than ever. Will the year ahead bend towards peace - or slip into the abyss of despair? The New York Declaration and its annexes - endorsed by the General Assembly last year - provide a clear, actionable path towards a two-State solution. The Global Alliance for the Two-State Solution offers a platform to galvanize long-overdue progress. But what matters is durable change on the ground. And as we sadly know all too well, the situation is perilously fragile.

In Gaza, Palestinians continue to endure grave suffering. Since the October 2025 agreement, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed. I urge all parties to implement the agreement in full, exercise maximum restraint and comply with international law and UN resolutions.

I also call for the facilitation of rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief at scale - including through the Rafah Crossing. The continued suspension of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) providing vital aid defies humanitarian principles, undermines fragile progress and worsens the suffering of civilians. Shelter, food, education materials and other basic needs must reach those in need.

Any sustainable solution in Gaza must be consistent with international law and result in Gaza and the West Bank - including East Jerusalem - being governed by a unified, legitimate and internationally recognized Palestinian Government. Gaza is and must remain an integral part of a Palestinian State.

In the occupied West Bank, relentless illegal settlement-expansion, demolitions, displacement and evictions are accelerating. More than 37,000 Palestinians were displaced in the West Bank in 2025 alone - a year that also saw record-high levels of Israeli settler violence.

The recently published tender by Israel for 3,401 housing units in the E1 Area - alongside continued demolitions - is profoundly alarming. If carried forward, it would sever the northern and southern West Bank, undermine territorial contiguity and strike a severe blow to the viability of a two-State solution.

Such actions, including Israel's continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, are not only destabilizing, but, as recalled by the International Court of Justice, unlawful.

I also note with deep concern the recent report of the Office of the High [United Nations] Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) detailing Israel's discriminatory administration of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem - with evidence-based findings on entrenched racial discrimination.

I urge Member States to significantly step up on every front - including through the 2026 flash appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. I reaffirm my full support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and condemn the adoption by the Israeli Parliament of laws that further impede the Agency's ability to operate and carry out its mandate activities.

I also condemn in the strongest terms actions by Israeli authorities to demolish the UNRWA Sheikh Jarrah compound in occupied East Jerusalem. Let me be clear: UNRWA premises are United Nations premises. They are inviolable and immune from any form of interference.

Public threats by officials of Israel against the staff of UNRWA are utterly abhorrent and must be met with unequivocal repudiation. UNRWA and its personnel hold the privileges and immunities specified in the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.

Israel has as an obligation under Article 105 of the Charter of the United Nations to ensure full respect for the privileges and immunities accorded to the UN, including its agencies and bodies, and its officials, in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

UNRWA is critical. I call on all Member States to continue to politically support it and to financially sustain it.

The work of this Committee reminds the world that we must never lose sight of the core objective: resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The occupation must end, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice. The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people must be realized. International law must be respected and accountability ensured.

The unity, contiguity and integrity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory must be preserved. The path must be opened for a just lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

There is only one viable route: the two-State solution in line with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions. A solution with Israel and a fully independent, democratic, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian State, of which Gaza is an integral part - living side by side in peace and security within secure and recognized borders, on the basis of the pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem as the capital of both States.

I urge the international community to act - with clarity, unity and determination.