RIO DE JANEIRO: G20 nations broadly back a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East, host Brazil said on Thursday (Feb 22) after a meeting of top diplomats, adding to pressure on Israel to accept an independent Palestinian state.
The message from the meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Rio de Janeiro came a day after Israel’s parliament overwhelmingly voted for a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to oppose any “unilateral” recognition of a Palestinian state.
More than four months into Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, the Group of 20 leading economies voiced “virtual unanimity for the two-state solution as the only possible solution” to the crisis, Brazil’s top diplomat, Mauro Vieira, told journalists at the close of the two-day meeting.
“The only reason (Vieira) didn’t simply say ‘unanimity’ is that not every speaker addressed the issue,” a Brazilian foreign ministry source told AFP.
“Every (minister) that addressed the issue voiced support” for a two-state solution, “and it was a lot” of ministers, he said.
The meeting brought together top diplomats including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Borrell had urged Vieira to use his closing statement “to explain to the world that at the G20, everybody was in favor” of a two-state solution, with an independent Palestine co-existing with Israel.
“It was a strong request for a two-state solution,” Borrell told journalists.
“The common denominator is that there’s not going to be peace, there’s not going to be sustainable security for Israel, unless the Palestinians have a clear political prospect to build (their) own state.”
He said he hoped to see a proposal from the Arab world to that effect in the coming days.
