Organizers confirmed the goal of this week’s ministerial-level summit is to produce an action-oriented outcome document detailing irreversible steps and concrete measures toward implementing a two-state solution.By Akiva Van Koningsveld, Amelie Botbol, JNSDozens of countries were expected to gather at the United Nations in New York on Monday for a France- and Saudi Arabia-led conference aimed at advancing Palestinian statehood, six weeks after the war between Israel and Iran led to the postponement of the summit.Representatives of more than 55 countries are slated to address the two-day U.N. event on “peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-state solution.”The United States and Israel are boycotting the event due to its unilateral push for a Palestinian state.In an interview with local media, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot claimed that other European countries would confirm “their intention to recognize the State of Palestine” during the summit.“We will launch an appeal in New York so that other countries join us to initiate an even more ambitious and demanding dynamic that will culminate on September 21,” Paris’s top diplomat said, in reference to French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to recognize “Palestine” at the U.N. General Assembly annual general debate later this year.Macron announced on Thursday that “consistent with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” Paris intends to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations.“I will make this solemn announcement before the U.N. General Assembly this coming September,” he stated. “The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population.”The governments of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Australia announced over the weekend that they are not planning on backing Macron’s initiative to recognize a Palestinian state at this time.Likud Party lawmaker Avichai Boaron told JNS on Sunday that in the aftermath of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, any reasonable person can see that the two-state solution is no longer viable.“If there’s a state, in the first election Hamas will take over, and once they do, they’ll begin planning the next Oct. 7,” said Boaron.“Hamas terrorists will target cities like Afula in the north, Netanya and Herzliya in the center, and Beersheba and Arad in the south—the next massacre will be exponentially larger.”The Palestinians are not seeking a state alongside Israel, but rather one that replaces it entirely—an aspiration reflected in slogans like “from the River to the Sea,” he continued.Their ultimate goal is a single Palestinian state and that they are willing to kill Jews to achieve it, he said, pointing to slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s expectations on Oct. 7 that terrorists from Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq would join the attack.“Their fundamentalist, Islamist hatred of Jews and the State of Israel runs so deep that they’re willing to use their own salaries to pay terrorists who kill Jews and are imprisoned in Israel,” said Boaron.“These payments come from the Palestinian Authority, because the hatred among Arabs in Judea and Samaria is just as strong as the hatred from the Arabs in Gaza,” he added.“We, as Israelis, cannot accept the establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Jewish homeland,” he continued.“The beginning of a Palestinian state would mark the end of the Jewish state—and we have no other place in the world. This is the land our ancestors walked 3,500 years ago.”Organizers confirmed the goal of this week’s ministerial-level summit is to produce an action-oriented outcome document detailing irreversible steps and concrete measures toward implementing a two-state solution.According to Barrot, some Arab foreign ministers will condemn the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and call for Hamas’s disarmament for the first time.However, Otzma Yehudit Party lawmaker Yitzhak Kroizer told JNS on Sunday that Jerusalem strongly opposes the U.N. conference—”not only because it seeks to bypass Israel’s sovereign government, but because it is a dangerous move that rewards terrorism.”Rather than promoting “the creation of yet another terrorist entity in the heart of our homeland—especially in the aftermath of the horrific Oct. 7 massacre carried out by that same so-called ‘Palestinian entity’—the only appropriate step is the application of Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria,” said Kroizer.“Neither France, nor Saudi Arabia, nor the United Nations will determine the future of our land. Judea, Samaria and Gaza are inseparable parts of the State of Israel. The world must understand: without security, there is no peace—and without sovereignty, there is no state,” he continued.“I will continue to advance the application of Israeli sovereignty and the strengthening of Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza region—unapologetically and without hesitation,” he added.The government led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led a near-unprecedented drive to expand Jerusalem’s control of Judea and Samaria, approving 41,709 housing units and 50 new towns since 2022.On Wednesday evening, 71 of 120 members of Israel’s Knesset passed a non-binding motion in favor of extending Jerusalem’s sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley.Only 13 lawmakers voted against the motion, which was submitted by Dan Illouz (Likud), Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism), Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit) and Oded Forer (Yisrael Beiteinu).“Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley are an inseparable part of the Land of Israel, the historic, cultural and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people,” the resolution states.Meanwhile, last year, the Knesset voted 99-11 to back the Netanyahu-led cabinet decision to reject any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.Rothman told JNS on Sunday that he had successfully advanced the two Knesset motions, noting they passed with strong bipartisan backing.“A Palestinian state would pose an imminent threat to the State of Israel, its citizens, and to peace and prosperity in the Middle East,” Rothman said. ]“The second resolution, which passed just last week, stipulated that the solution should be the application of Israeli civil law over Judea and Samaria.”“Both of these resolutions enjoy the support of about two-thirds of the Knesset,” Rothman added.“Anyone who wants to call himself a friend of Israel and a friend of the Jewish people cannot promote a policy that two-thirds of Israel’s elected officials say endangers the state. Therefore, anyone calling for a two-state solution cannot claim to be acting in the interest of the State of Israel or the Jewish people.”The Israeli government has recently warned some key European nations that any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state could prompt Jerusalem to extend sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria.Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer reportedly told France, the United Kingdom and others that the move could lead Israel to annex Area C of Judea and Samaria and legalize outposts.“Unilateral moves against Israel will be met with unilateral moves by Israel,” Sa’ar told his counterparts, Israel Hayom reported in May.The U.S. has reportedly also warned nations attending the U.N. summit against taking anti-Israel actions, threatening diplomatic consequences.Reuters reported in June that Washington warned in a cable to allies that countries making anti-Israel moves in the wake of the summit would be viewed as acting in opposition to U.S. foreign-policy interests.“The United States opposes any steps that would unilaterally recognize a conjectural Palestinian state, which adds significant legal and political obstacles to the eventual resolution of the conflict and could coerce Israel during a war, thereby supporting its enemies,” it stated.The post Foreign ministers gather at UN for French-Saudi conference on Palestinian state appeared first on World Israel News.