RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and its partners had convened a global alliance to push forward a two-state solution agenda to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Thursday.
The agenda is based on the conviction that a permanent settlement can only come via the establishment of a Palestinian state, the top Saudi diplomat said.
“What we are trying to do is build a coalition aimed at implementing the two-state solution and that needs certain building blocks, including capacity building within the Palestinian authority,” Prince Farhan said.
He said the Kingdom and allies would organize meetings at the senior working level in Riyadh, Brussels, Cairo, Oslo, Amman, and Ankara as part of the plan.
“I fail to understand how the continuation of war can be the only option,” he said. “There must be other options, and therefore I will reiterate our call for a ceasefire and for diplomacy to prevail.”
The decades-long conflict has come to a boiling point after Hamas militants stormed across the Gaza border and attacked Israeli settlements on Oct. 7, killing nearly 1,200 people.
Israeli retaliatory action has laid waste to much of Gaza and killed over 41,000 in the enclave.
The conflict now has spread more widely to Lebanon. Israel has been attacking the southern part of the country where the Iran-backed Hezbollah group is strongest.
World powers fear that the conflict could escalate further, especially if Iran gets involved.
A call to halt hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah by the US and France and their allies has been rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
Asked about the Israeli premier's response, the Saudi diplomat said: “I wish I could tell you. I was surprised.”
Prince Faisal said the ceasefire proposal had been worded carefully to take into account the interests of both Lebanon and Israel.
There has been ongoing efforts to bring about an end to hostilities in the region, but all have failed except a brief pause in November when a number of hostages were exchanged between the Israelis and Palestinians.
“We have seen since the start of the war a pattern, every time we are told we are close to a ceasefire in Gaza, it does not happen,” Prince Faisal said.
“Similarly, when we were with our partners working together on a very concrete call for a ceasefire in regard to Lebanon, our impression was that was acceptable, only to learn now that, no, it is not acceptable.”
He said that the group was attempting to set the groundwork for the solution. As for Saudi Arabia, the focus was on establishing the Palestinian state.
