International community key to solving Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Envoy

Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot with Stephen Sackur on Hardtalk. (Screengrab BBC)
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Updated 15 June 2021
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International community key to solving Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Envoy

  • Palestinian ambassador to UK: ‘Leaving two sides to sort it out … is like leaving the wolf with the lamb’
  • With sufficient global support, ‘transformation is imminent,’ Husam Zomlot tells event attended by Arab News

LONDON: The key to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “a very clear message from the international community,” the Palestinian ambassador to Britain told a London think tank on Tuesday.

In a conversation hosted by Chatham House and attended by Arab News, Husam Zomlot told the audience that the Palestinians have fulfilled their part “in making sure that we enforce ourselves into the Israeli public so that apathy doesn’t continue.”

He added that the biggest factor for increasing awareness and forcing change in the region will be “what our youth do,” pointing to the intensity of the next generation’s campaigning over the last month.

Zomlot said youth campaigns “have been very intense,” adding: “Our message was delivered to every Israeli household. It has cost us a lot, a lot of bravery and heroism. I’m following these kids in Jerusalem on social media, speaking to the media with such beautiful eloquence, framing the issue. It’s hitting the Israeli public and the world.”

However, he said despite this energy and enthusiasm from youth activists, the lack of a clear message from the international community has limited the efficacy of their efforts.

“What’s missing isn’t the Palestinian readiness to stand up — we’ve proved that 100 times in the last 100 years … All the way to the Jerusalem uprising, we’ve been delivering the message. What’s missing is a very clear message from the international community,” he added.

“Leaving two sides to sort it out … is like leaving the wolf with the lamb. What we can do is to resist, but resistance on its own won’t tilt the balance. We need the force of the third party that created the situation.”

Zomlot said with sufficient international support following the latest wave of global attention, “transformation is imminent.”


Israeli settlements in West Bank growing at highest level since 2017: UN report

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Israeli settlements in West Bank growing at highest level since 2017: UN report

UNITED NATIONS: The expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is at its highest level since at least 2017, when the United Nations began tracking such data, according to a report by the United Nations secretary-general seen by AFP on Friday.
In 2025, “plans for nearly 47,390 housing units were advanced, approved, or tendered, compared with some 26,170 in 2024,” the report said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned what he called the “relentless” expansion in a statement accompanying the report, saying it “continues to fuel tensions, impede access by Palestinians to their land and threaten the viability of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous and sovereign Palestinian State.”