UN Chief: Replacing Israel-Palestine Two-State Solution Would be 'Madness'

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In his address to the UN General Assembly, Ban said:

"As a friend of both Israeli and Palestinian peoples, it pains me that this past decade has been 10 years lost to peace… Ten years lost to intra-Palestinian divide, growing polarization and hopelessness. This is madness. Replacing a two-state solution with a one-state construct would spell doom: denying Palestinians their freedom and rightful future, and pushing Israel further from its vision of a Jewish democracy towards greater global isolation."

Palestinians have been seeking the recognition of their independent state, proclaimed in 1988, in the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government refuses to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity, and builds settlements on the occupied areas, despite objections from the United Nations.