By Janet Ekstract, NEW YORK- Arab and Muslim countries have followed in the footsteps of the EU with their own declaration signed on July 29 that calls on Hamas for the first time ever to disarm, release all the hostages and end its rule in Gaza. Some of those countries include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Turkiye who also condemned for the first time Hamas’s brutal attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. The 22-member Arab League, the entire European Union and 17 countries support a seven-page text that was obtained by The Times of Israel (TOI) that was agreed upon at a U.N. conference on reviving the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. The “New York Declaration” lays out a phased plan to end the decades-long conflict and the ongoing war in Gaza. Ultimately, the plan would see an independent, demilitarized Palestine living side by side peacefully with Israel and their eventual integration into the wider Middle East region. As the declaration states in part: “In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.” The declaration added: “We condemn the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians on the 7th of October,” adding, “We also condemn the attacks by Israel against civilians in Gaza and civilian infrastructure, siege and starvation, which have resulted in a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection crisis.”
Meanwhile, late Tuesday, July 29, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon condemned those countries who participated in the conference, expressing: “there are those in the world who fight terrorists and extremist forces and there are those who turn a blind eye to them or resort to appeasement.” The conference created eight high-level working groups to examine and make proposals on a plethora of topics related to a two-state solution. The New York Declaration was followed by a call from the Palestinian Authority (PA) on the first day of the U.N.-Palestine Conference on July 28, for both Israel and Hamas to leave Gaza, allowing the PA to administer the region. The declaration also called on Jerusalem to abandon many of its policies throughout the war and beyond, including its restriction of humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip, its military rule and continued construction of settlements in the West Bank along with its failure to prevent settler violence against Palestinians as well as Israel’s alleged alteration of status quos in Jerusalem.
Additionally, the declaration called for a possible deployment of foreign forces to stabilize Gaza after the hostilities are over. It also called for Israel to end its ban of the U.N. Refugee and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees and their descendants. It also reiterated that the Palestinians have the “right of return” to areas in Israel they left or were expelled from surrounding the 1948 creation of the State of Israel – a concept ruled out by successive Israeli governments that contended this would undermine its existence as a Jewish state. Finally, the declaration also pushed for the rehabilitation of the Palestinian economy and the removal of inciting and hateful material from the Palestinian Authority school curriculum – the same is being demanded from Israel as well. Experts, observers and analysts on the Middle East highlight that the mass support is an exciting step in the right direction but caution that time is running out because Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and his far-right constituency oppose a two-state solution and boycotted the two-day conference on nationalistic and security grounds. The U.S. also boycotted the conference as an ally of Israel, labeling the conference “unproductive and ill-timed.”
