UN conference backs two-state solution, calls on Israel to commit to a Palestinian state

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — High-level representatives at a U.N. conference on Tuesday urged Israel to commit to a Palestinian state and gave “unwavering support” to a two-state solution, signaling widespread international determination to end one of the world’s longest conflicts.

The “New York Declaration” sets out a phased plan to end the nearly eight-decade conflict and the ongoing war in Gaza. The plan would culminate with an independent, demilitarized Palestine living side by side peacefully with Israel, and their eventual integration into the wider Mideast region.

The meeting is taking place amid the latest reports that starvation and famine are taking place in Gaza, and growing global outrage at Palestinians not getting food due to Israeli policies and practices – which Israel denies. Planned for two days, the meeting was extended into Wednesday because representatives of about 50 countries have not spoken.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes a two-state solution and has rejected the meeting on both nationalistic and security grounds. Israel's close ally, the United States, is also boycotting, calling the meeting “unproductive and ill-timed.”

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon late Tuesday sharply criticized the some 125 countries participating in the conference, saying “there are those in the world who fight terrorists and extremist forces and then there are those who turn a blind eye to them or resort to appeasement.”

The conference, which was postponed from June and downgraded from world leaders to ministers, for the first time established eight high-level working groups to examine and make proposals on wide-ranging topics related to a two-state solution.

The declaration’s plan says conference co-chairs France and Saudi Arabia, the European Union and Arab League, and 15 countries that led the working groups agreed “to take collective action to end the war in Gaza.”

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan urged the rest of the 193 U.N. member nations “to support this document” before the start of the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly in mid-September.

The declaration condemns “the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians” in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. It marks a first condemnation by Arab nations of Hamas, whose attacks killed about 1,200, mainly Israeli civilians, and whose militants took about 250 people hostage. Some 50 are still being held.

The declaration condemns Israel's attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and its “siege and starvation, which have produced a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection crisis.” Israel’s offensive against Hamas has killed over 60,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The conference plan envisions the Palestinian Authority governing and controlling all Palestinian territory, with a transitional administrative committee immediately established under its umbrella after a ceasefire in Gaza.

“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,” the declaration says.

It also supports deployment of “a temporary international stabilization mission” operating under U.N. auspices to protect Palestinian civilians, support the transfer of security to the Palestinian Authority and provide security guarantees for Palestine and Israel — “including monitoring of the ceasefire and of a future peace agreement.”

The declaration urges countries to recognize the state of Palestine, calling this “an essential and indispensable component of the achievement of the two-state solution.” Without naming Israel but clearly referring to it, the document says “illegal unilateral actions are posing an existential threat to the realization of the independent state of Palestine.”

French President Emmanuel Macron announced ahead of the meeting that his country will recognize the state of Palestine at the General Assembly's meeting of world leaders in late September. The French Foreign Ministry on Tuesday pushed back on Israeli claims that recognition of Palestine would “reward” Hamas, saying that “on the contrary, it has contributed to isolating Hamas.”

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday that Britain would recognize the state of Palestine before September's meeting, but would refrain if Israel agrees to a ceasefire and long-term peace process in the next eight weeks. The countries are now the biggest Western powers and the only two members of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations to make such a pledge.

A separate one-page statement titled the “New York Call" was circulated by France, but the language was considered too strong, especially for Arab nations. It was only approved by 15 Western nations, including six that have recognized the state of Palestine and nine others: Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Portugal and San Marino.

The statement, issued late Tuesday, says the 15 countries have recognized, “expressed or express the willingness or the positive consideration ... to recognize the state of Palestine, as an essential step towards the two-state solution, and invite all countries that have not done so to join this call.”

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa speaks during a high-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State solution at United Nations Headquarters, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel addresses the United Nations General Assembly, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa walks off stage after speaking at a high-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State solution at United Nations Headquarters, on Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Canada Foreign Minister Anita Anand addresses the United Nations General Assembly, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa is seen on a interpreter monitor as he speaks during a high-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State solution at United Nations Headquarters, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

MADRID (AP) — With most European leaders talking tougher about immigration amid a rise in far-right populism and Trump administration warnings that they could face “civilizational erasure” unless they tighten their borders, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stands apart.

The Iberian nation has taken in millions of people from Latin America and Africa in recent years, and the leftist Sánchez regularly extols the financial and social benefits that immigrants who legally come to Spain bring to the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy.

Spain’s choice, Sánchez often says, is between “being an open and prosperous country or a closed and poor one.”

His words stand in stark contrast to other Western leaders, and so far, his bet seems to be paying off. Spain’s economy has grown faster than any other EU nation for a second year in a row, due in part to newcomers boosting its aging workforce.

“Today, Spain’s progress and strong economic situation owe much to the contribution of the migrants who have come to Spain to develop their life projects,” Sánchez said in July after anti-migrant clashes rocked a small southern Spanish town.

Sánchez's immigration approach, including his remarks about immigrants' contributions to Spanish society, is consistent with those of the country's past progressive governments, said Anna Terrón Cusi, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute think tank who previously worked on immigration policy for multiple Spanish governments, including Sánchez's.

“What has changed a lot internally is that there is now very anti-immigration rhetoric from Vox, especially against Muslim immigrants,” she said, referring to the far-right Spanish party that has been polling third, behind the ruling Socialists and center-right People's Party. “But Sánchez, unlike other European leaders, responds by directly and strongly confronting this narrative.”

Centrist leaders across Europe are facing rising pressure from anti-immigrant far-right parties, despite a significant decrease in illegal border crossings into the EU over the past two years.

In France, where the once-ostracized National Rally far-right party has built support, centrist President Emmanuel Macron now speaks about what he refers to as “the migration problem."

“If we don’t want the National Rally to come to power, we must address the problem that feeds it,” Macron said last year after France passed new restrictions that he described as “a shield” needed to “fight illegal immigration” while helping to “better integrate” migrant workers.

While running to be German chancellor this year, Friedrich Merz vowed to toughen the country’s migration policy. Days after he was elected, Germany boosted its border security efforts. And in recent weeks, it has presented new figures suggesting a rise in deportations of rejected asylum-seekers and a drop in the number of new asylum-seekers.

Sánchez’s progressive government, too, has seen pro-immigration proposals stall.

Last year, it amended Spain’s immigration law to facilitate residency and work permits to hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in the country illegally. At the time, Migration Minister Elma Saiz said Spain needed to add as many as 300,000 taxpaying foreign workers per year to sustain its state benefits, including for pensions, health care and unemployment. Critics, though, said the changes to the law had many shortcomings and even hurt some migrants instead.

A more ambitious amnesty proposal later also endorsed by Sánchez’ progressive government stalled in Parliament due to its thorny politics.

“There were some voices that pointed out that (the amnesty) could have a very big social impact,” said Cecilia Estrada Villaseñor, an immigration researcher at the Pontifical Comillas University in Madrid. She added, “there is a European context that comes into play. We belong to the European Union, and right now the balance lies in a different place.”

Sánchez’s government, in conjunction with the EU, has also paid African governments to help stop migrants, from reaching Spanish shores, including many would-be asylum-seekers.

Most immigrants in Spain enter the country legally by plane. But the relatively few who arrive on Spanish shores in smugglers' boats dominate headlines and are routinely held up by far-right politicians and media as a sign of what's wrong with the government's stance.

Last year, amid steep rises in the number of people making the dangerous sea crossing from Africa's west coast to the Canary Islands, Sánchez traveled to Mauritania with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who pledged 210 million euros (around $247 million) of EU money to help the northwestern African country curb migration.

The efforts seem to be working. Migrant arrivals to the Canary Islands this year are down 60%, which even the government's critics say is because of governments in Africa stepping up border controls.

But rights advocates blame Sánchez's policies for the violent deaths of migrants in Spain and abroad, such as the 2022 flashpoint in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, in North Africa. In that instance, sub-Saharan migrants and asylum-seekers scaled a border fence, which sparked clashes with authorities in which 23 migrants died.

In an interview with The Associated Press a week later, Sánchez defended how Moroccan and Spanish police responded, calling the attempt “an attack on Spain’s borders.”

In response to questions from the AP, a spokesperson from the prime minister's office said, “our migration policy is effective and responsible.”

Spain is home to millions of migrants from Latin America, who are fast-tracked for Spanish citizenship and generally integrate easily because of the shared language.

More than 4 million people from Latin America were living in Spain legally in 2024, according to government figures. The current leading countries of origin for Spain’s immigrants are Morocco, Colombia and Venezuela.

Spain's central bank estimates the country will need around 24 million working-age immigrants over the next 30 years to sustain the balance between workers and retirees-plus-children.

But economists say Spain's millions of immigrants have added fuel to another political fire — the country's increasingly unaffordable housing market. José Boscá, an economist at the University of Valencia, said alongside pressures from overtourism and short-term rentals in cities, Spain hasn't built enough housing to accommodate its new residents.

“If you integrate so many people, but you don’t build more housing, there could be problems,” Boscá said.

In response, Sánchez's government has pledged to fund more construction — especially of public housing — and also floated measures to crack down on wealthy foreigners buying second homes in the country.

Associated Press reporters Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this story.

FILE - Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, June 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

FILE - Riot police officers cordon off the area after migrants arrive on Spanish soil and crossing the fences separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco in Melilla, Spain, on June 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Javier Bernardo, File)

FILE - Migrants disembark at the port of "La Estaca" in Valverde at the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)

FILE - Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks with the media as he arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)