UN Secretary General Visit to Ramallah Supports Palestinian Position on Post-’67 Building

Using the language of Israel’s critics, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres used a visit to Ramallah to embrace Palestinian objections to Israel’s building of Jewish communities on West Bank land conquered in the 1967 war that the Palestinians claim for their future state, calling them “a major obstacle” to peace. A day after Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed a 50th anniversary celebration by those who live in post-67 communities proclaiming the “settlements will never be uprooted,” Guterres countered by saying that, “A two-state solution, end to occupation, creating conditions to end the suffering of the Palestinian people are the only way to guarantee that peace is established.” The UN chief’s message was apparently aimed also at the Trump administration after undoubtedly hearing disappointment from senior Palestinian officials that the president’s Mideast peace negotiators came and went last week without clarifying US support for a two-state solution.