PinnedUpdated Sept. 22, 2025, 2:06 p.m. ETPalestinian statehood will take center stage at the United Nations on Monday at a conference co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, as world leaders converge on New York for the annual gathering of the U.N. General Assembly.About 10 countries have either recognized Palestine formally as a state or are expected to do so on Monday, including France and Belgium, which will join 147 other 193 U.N. member states that already consider Palestine a sovereign nation. Australia, Britain, Canada and Portugal confirmed on Sunday that they now formally recognize Palestinian statehood.The highly symbolic move is intended to help salvage a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is looking as distant as ever as the Gaza war nears the end of its second year, Israel rapidly expands its settlements in the West Bank and the humanitarian crisis in the enclave grows more dire.“I think we absolutely must do everything and mobilize as much as we can the international community to make sure that the two-state solution prevails,” António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, said last week at a news conference while laying out the priorities for this year’s assembly. He added, “What is the alternative?”In practice, the recognition of a Palestinian state is unlikely to change the reality on the ground. And at the United Nations, the move will not elevate a Palestine state to full membership from its status as an observer state. (The U.N. Security Council would have to approve that change, and the United States would most likely veto it.)But diplomats from Europe, the Middle East and Asia have said that the conference will showcase the alignment of a majority of the international community and the isolation of the United States on the issue as several of its key Western allies diverge from Washington’s policy.“I think it does underline that there is still some potential pathway to a diplomatic solution for the Palestinians, even if everyone recognizes that it is an extremely long pathway,” said Richard Gowan, the U.N. director for the International Crisis Group.The United States and Israel oppose the conference, arguing that recognizing a Palestinian state would embolden Hamas at a time when Israel is still at war with the militant group in Gaza and not all hostages captured during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, have been released.Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, criticized the initiative as “one-sided,” saying: “This is not diplomacy. It is theater.”Ahead of the conference, the General Assembly ratified with an overwhelming majority — 142 votes in favor — the “New York Declaration,” a document put forward by France and Saudi Arabia that calls for the creation of a Palestinian state next to the existing Israeli one.The declaration sets out “tangible, time-bound and irreversible steps” toward a two-state solution. It also condemns the Hamas-led attacks in 2023 that started the war in Gaza, as well as Israel’s assaults on civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Palestinian enclave and the humanitarian crisis there.Here’s what else to know about the conference.Key speakers: The conference will be held at the U.N. General Assembly hall and is expected to last about three hours. Mr. Guterres and President Emanuel Macron of France will speak, and representatives of several other countries are likely to, as well. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia is set to address the gathering in a virtual video.Palestinian presence: Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, will address the conference virtually from Ramallah. He is unable to attend in person because the United States declined to grant him and his delegation visas.A new approach to peace: Many diplomats said that the way the world has sought to broker peace for decades — by saving the establishment of a Palestinian state for the last stages of negotiations in a comprehensive deal between Israel and Palestinians — had failed. The conference aims to turn that notion on its head, by starting with recognition of a Palestinian state and working from there to achieve peace.Protests: Emotions ran high in some countries as the U.N. prepared to address Palestinian statehood. Tens of thousands of Italians took to the streets of several cities — including Milan and Rome — to protest in solidarity with Palestinians on Monday, in a one-day general strike called by trade unions. And in France, more than 50 town halls across the country defied a government warning and hoisted Palestinian flags on Monday, hours before President Emmanuel Macron was expected to formally recognize a Palestinian state.Sept. 22, 2025, 2:23 p.m. ETKaroline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said President Trump, while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Trump also will hold bilateral meetings with the United Nations secretary general and the leaders of Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a multilateral meeting with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.Sept. 22, 2025, 2:07 p.m. ETA Palestinian flag being placed over the entrance of the City Hall in Lyon, France, on Monday.Credit...Olivier Chassignole/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMore than 50 town halls across France defied the government and hoisted the Palestinian flag on Monday, hours before President Emmanuel Macron was expected to formally recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations.The symbolic but small gesture involved 86 of France’s nearly 35,000 municipalities as of Monday evening, according to the French Interior Ministry. It was opposed by the interior minister on the grounds that it breached neutrality rules governing public services and that it risked causing public disturbances.But left-leaning mayors ignored that opposition in big cities like Rennes, Nantes and Lyon, as well as a smattering of smaller towns, including several suburbs of Paris.“This flag is not the flag of Hamas; it is the flag of men and women who also have the right to freedom and self-determination,” Olivier Faure, the head of the Socialist Party, told reporters in front of the town hall in Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris that raised the Palestinian flag on Monday morning alongside the French and European Union flags.“Hoisting a flag in front of a town hall won’t change the region’s fate,” Mr. Faure added. “But it’s a way to tell the world that France, and not just the president of the republic, support this move,” he added, referring to the recognition of a Palestinian state.Mr. Macron’s decision has been divisive in France, which is home to the largest Jewish and Muslim communities in Western Europe.It has been hailed by many on the left as a necessary and long-overdue step toward peace, but right-wing politicians and some in France’s Jewish community have opposed the move, arguing that it would embolden Hamas and that Palestinian statehood should be realized only after direct peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.Bruno Retailleau, France’s interior minister, had instructed state prefects in the country to refer any decisions by mayors to fly the Palestinian flag to French courts.“The front of a town hall is not a billboard,” Mr. Retailleau said last week.Some cities, like Saint-Ouen, a suburb north of Paris, flew the Israeli and Palestinian flags together.In Paris on Sunday evening, the Palestinian and Israeli flags were projected onto the Eiffel Tower, alongside an image of a dove carrying an olive branch.Sept. 22, 2025, 2:04 p.m. ETThe Palestinian part of Hebron in the West Bank in 2019.Credit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesWhat does it even mean for the Palestinians to have a state, when the borders of that state are undefined and the population can’t agree on which leaders govern them?The criteria for statehood were laid out in an international treaty in 1933.They include four elements: a permanent population, defined territorial boundaries, a government and an ability to conduct international affairs.Recognition is an official acknowledgment that a would-be state broadly meets those conditions. It can occur even if an element is in dispute, including territorial boundaries.Like all legal questions, “interpretation matters,” said Zinaida Miller, a professor of law and international affairs at Northeastern University.The criteria for recognizing a Palestinian state have been met at a basic level, many experts on international law say.A permanent population and land exist. The borders, while disputed, are broadly understood to be in Israeli-occupied territories, including the West Bank and Gaza, which was seized in 1967 in a war with a coalition of Arab states; as well as East Jerusalem, which Israel has effectively annexed.The Palestinian Authority is a government body that administers part of the West Bank and represents Palestinians. Its creation was authorized by the Palestine Liberation Organization, which represents Palestinians internationally.While there are limits to what the Palestinian Authority can do, given the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Hamas’s control of Gaza, foreign recognition of a Palestinian state would mean the establishment of direct diplomatic contact between the Authority and the recognizing nation.Recognition would also send diplomatic and political messages. It would acknowledge the Palestinian right to self-determination and reject the positions and actions of the Israeli government that undermine that right, Ms. Miller said.Sept. 22, 2025, 5:21 a.m. ETThe U.N. General Assembly last year. The wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan will loom over the annual gathering this year in New York.Credit...Graham Dickie/The New York TimesThis week kicks off the high-level part of the U.N. General Assembly, when world leaders meet to discuss the world’s most pressing problems. It is the 80th year of the gathering, and comes at a difficult time for the organization, with wars raging globally and a budget crisis internally. Yet it remains a big stage, with more than 140 world leaders and senior officials and delegations converging on New York.The General Debate, which will start on Tuesday, is the main event, when representatives from each member state will speak on various issues.Beyond the main debate, there are other events the world may be keeping tabs on:On Monday, Palestinian statehood is due to take center stage at a conference hosted by France and Saudi Arabia. Australia, Britain, Canada and Portugal said on Sunday that they now formally recognized Palestinian statehood, and France has announced its intention to do so.Also, the Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting on the recent incursion by Russian fighter jets into Estonian airspace.On Tuesday, the Security Council is expected to hold a meeting on the war in Gaza and the security situation in the Middle East (scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern) and another on Ukraine (scheduled for 4 p.m. Eastern).On Wednesday, leaders are expected to gather for a climate summit to present commitments to tackle climate change and discuss solutions.On Thursday, leaders are expected to discuss artificial intelligence.The high-level gathering also offers world leaders opportunities for one-on-one meetings. António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, has expressed interest in meeting with President Trump. The Russian foreign minister may meet with his U.S. counterpart as well, after diplomatic efforts between Moscow and Washington last month seemed to do little to slow the war in Ukraine.Here’s a day-by-day breakdown of some of the speakers to watch out for.Tuesday, Sept. 23Following a decades-long tradition, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is set to open the comments from member states. This month, Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s former president, was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for overseeing a failed coup plot after losing the 2022 election. Mr. Trump had urged Brazil to drop the charges, and Mr. Lula has vowed not to bend to U.S. pressure.Mr. Trump is to come next, speaking on behalf of the United States, following convention for the host country to speak second. It is not known what he will say, but he could touch on topics including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, two conflicts he has pledged to end, so far without success; an escalating immigration crackdown at home; and a wave of tariffs intended to protect American industries that has alarmed trading partners around the globe.The General Assembly is expected to hear from the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in addition to leaders from Jordan, Qatar and Egypt. Israel conducted an airstrike in Qatar this month that targeted Hamas officials, a move that drew outrage from some Arab leaders.The chamber is also due to hear from the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, who is leading a diplomatic push for recognition of Palestinian statehood in an effort to salvage a two-state solution with Israel.President Karol Nawrocki of Poland, whose country has raised alarm over a recent incursion of Russian drones, is to speak in the afternoon.So will Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president. Her country is facing pressure from Mr. Trump to accommodate American interests on trade and combat drug cartels.Wednesday, Sept. 24Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is scheduled to speak, almost certainly about Russia’s invasion of his country. Mr. Zelensky expressed cautious optimism after meeting with Mr. Trump in August, but the prospect of a meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia remains elusive, and Moscow has stepped up its drone attacks.Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian will attend, according to a statement posted to social media by his political adviser. His remarks would come after a war with Israel in June, which dealt a heavy blow to his country’s military chain of command.Wednesday is also expected to be the U.N. debut of Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Shara, after a rebel alliance he led ousted the strongman Bashar al-Assad in December.Thursday, Sept. 25The Trump administration denied visas to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, and his delegation, but the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to permit Palestinian representatives to participate virtually, including with a prerecorded statement from Mr. Abbas. Israel’s ground operation in Gaza City has deepened a humanitarian crisis in the enclave, where hunger is rampant.Prime Minister Kamil Idris of Sudan, according to the Sudanese news media, is expected to speak on Thursday, too. A civil war has engulfed his country for two years.Friday, Sept. 26Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is due to start off the speeches on Friday morning. Mr. Netanyahu faces a rift with his country’s military leadership over his war strategy in Gaza. The war has also deepened his isolation internationally and increased his political opposition domestically.He is to be followed by Premier Li Qiang of China, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain and India’s minister of external affairs, S. Jaishankar. The close ties India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, once enjoyed with Mr. Trump have frayed in recent months.There may be comments from a representative of Nepal, where days of violent protests this month toppled the government. The country’s first female chief justice and now leader, Sushila Karki, has assumed the role of interim prime minister. The country’s previous prime minister had been planning to attend, according to Nepali news media; it is unclear who is going now.Saturday, Sept. 27Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada is expected to speak on Saturday. Mr. Carney has met with Ms. Sheinbaum to devise an “action plan” for dealing with Mr. Trump’s tariffs. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, is expected to also deliver remarks in the first half of the day. The Kremlin has insisted that it obtain its own “security guarantees” before laying down arms in Ukraine.Venezuela’s foreign minister, Yvan Gil, is expected to address the Assembly on Saturday, amid a major buildup of U.S. naval forces outside Venezuela’s waters. Washington has sharpened its language about fighting drug cartels, made deadly strikes on boats carrying people accused of being drug smugglers and labeled President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela a terrorist-cartel leader. Mr. Maduro has repeatedly accused the United States of trying to topple him.Monday, Sept. 29Remarks from representatives of Afghanistan, where the Taliban returned to power four years ago, and South Sudan are due to end the week. It is unclear who will represent each country.