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NEW YORK CITY: The UN General Assembly on Friday voted to resume a high-level international summit on the two-state solution on Sept. 22, reviving a process that was suspended during the summer amid escalating violence in the Middle East.

It followed a proposal by ������Ƶ and France that was adopted despite strong objections from Israel and the US, both of which disassociated themselves from the decision and described the initiative as politically motivated and harmful to peace efforts.

The High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine initially convened during the 79th session of the General Assembly but was suspended on July 30. The conference will now resume during the General Assembly’s 80th session, at the level of heads of state and government, underscoring the need for what proponents describe as an urgent international push toward a just and lasting peace between Israel and Palestine.

Speaking before the vote on the proposal, the Saudi representative to the UN, Abdulaziz Alwasil, delivering remarks on behalf of Riyadh and Paris, said the initiative was not aimed at any particular side or party but was “a reflection of our shared commitment to uphold international law and relevant UN resolutions.”

He added: “The situation on the ground in Palestine has never been more dire. Escalating violence, deepening humanitarian suffering and the erosion of hope for peace all underscore the urgency of our collective responsibility.

“This process cannot be allowed to stall. The resumption of the conference is a substantive commitment by the international community to act with resolve, consistency and responsibility.”

Israel rejected the decision, accusing backers of the proposal of “procedural bullying” and complaining of a lack of transparency in the process behind it.

“This is not a serious attempt at peacemaking, it is a performance, a publicity stunt,” the Israeli representative said.

“Far from advancing peace, it threatens to prolong the war, embolden Hamas, and undermine real diplomatic efforts.”

The representative warned that such gestures send the wrong signal to militants, and that terrorist groups such as Hamas have publicly praised recent international initiatives, interpreting them as validation of their tactics.

The US also formally opposed the decision by the General Assembly, warning that the conference itself, along with the resolution mandating it, lacks legitimacy.

“We were surprised and dismayed to see this proposal added to the agenda only yesterday,” the US envoy said, bemoaning a lack of transparency surrounding the text, the timing and the budgetary implications of the move.

Describing the resumption of the summit as an “ill-timed publicity stunt,” the envoy warned that the conference could embolden Hamas and prolong the conflict, and stated that Washington would not participate.

“This is an insult to the victims of Oct. 7,” the US representative said, referring to the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in 2023.

“Our focus remains on serious diplomacy, not stage-managed conferences designed to manufacture the appearance of relevance.”

BEIRUT: Shia ministers walked out of a Lebanese cabinet meeting Friday called to discuss efforts to disarm Hezbollah, state media reported, with the group adamant it would hold onto its weapons.
The walkout by five ministers, including those from Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement, happened as Lebanon’s army chief entered the meeting to present a plan for disarming the group, local media reported.
The official National News Agency (NNA)reported that they had left the meeting, but did not say why.
The Lebanese government had ordered the military to draw up plans to disarm the once-dominant militant group by the end of the year, having come under pressure from the United States and Israeli strikes.
Hezbollah and Amal ministers have three times now walked out of cabinet talks over disarmament. Multi-confessional Lebanon has a sect-based power-sharing system in which legitimacy unofficially derives from consensus.
Politics in the multi-confessional country is delicately balanced along confessional lines, with Sunnis, Shias, Christians and Druze all represented.
Hezbollah reiterated its opposition to the move on Wednesday, with its parliamentary bloc calling on Lebanese authorities to “reverse their... unpatriotic decision.”
The government says disarming Hezbollah is part of implementing the US-brokered ceasefire agreement from November that ended over a year of hostilities between the group and Israel.
- Israeli strikes -

Friday’s cabinet session comes amid intensified Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon over the past two days, which killed at least five people, according to the health ministry and the NNA.
David Wood, a senior Lebanon analyst at the International Crisis Group, told AFP that “Israel is trying to send a message that only concrete action on disarmament, rather than pledges and words, will do the job.”
Should the cabinet approve the plan, Wood said Hezbollah could consider other options like pressuring Shia ministers to resign or “trying to organize mass protests.”
In an attempt to ease tensions, speaker of parliament and head of the Amal movement Nabih Berri had called on Sunday for discussions to be “a calm and consensual dialogue.”
Fadi Makki, the only Shia minister not affiliated with Hezbollah or Amal who also walked out on Friday, told AFP before the meeting began that there were “no details yet” on the army’s plan.
In late August, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said “the path of monopolising arms, extending state authority and monopolising decisions on war and peace is a path that has begun and there is no turning back.”
Ahead of the session, posters depicting Salam and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun were put up in the streets of Beirut with the caption: “We are all with you. One army, one arsenal, one state. A new era for Lebanon.”
- Power shift -

Hezbollah was the most powerful political force in Lebanon before its most recent war with Israel, able to sway and disrupt governments.
The balance of power has since shifted, with Hezbollah badly weakened by the war as well as the overthrow of its ally Bashar Assad in Syria.
“A solution must be found, and it is preferable that it be done in a proper manner, and that disarmament be achieved through mutual understanding,” Abdul Rahman Trabulsi, a 60-year-old Beirut resident, said, adding that he believes Hezbollah’s role “has ended.”
In contrast, Ali Khalil, a 20-year-old restaurant worker, said that “weapons will not be taken, it’s impossible,” adding, “let them go first and fix the government and the state, then think about the weapons.”
“If they decide today to seize the weapons, there will be a confrontation,” he added.
The group’s leader Naim Qassem accused Lebanon’s government of handing the country to Israel by pushing for its disarmament.
Qassem also said Hezbollah and Amal had postponed a previous call for protest to allow room for discussion and “to make adjustments before we reach a confrontation that no one wants.”
However, he added, “if it is imposed on us, we will face it.”
Hezbollah was the only group to keep its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of resistance against Israel, which occupied the south until 2000.