Ex-US Envoy to UN: Mideast Peace in Everybody's Interest, Not Just Israel & Palestine
© AP Photo / Abdel Kareem HanaPalestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a makeshift tent camp in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
![Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a makeshift tent camp in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a makeshift tent camp in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) - Sputnik International, 1920, 23.07.2024](https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/1b/1118645955_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_d916b256f36dee3bcbd0bcf3eb598d18.jpg)
© AP Photo / Abdel Kareem Hana
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The whole world, not only Israel and Palestine, is interested in resolving the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, former US ambassador to the UN Andrew Young told Sputnik.
"It is in everybody’s interest to settle up the Middle East, not just Israel and Palestine," Young said.
He expressed confidence that other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, the US, Egypt, are interested in a resolution to the decades-old conflict.
"Everybody prospers when the world is at peace, and the world cannot be at peace at the same time if it spends so much money on death and destruction," he said.
Young, now 92, who served at the UN from 1977-1979, recalled his conversations with the Israelis and the Palestinians at that time.
"When I was at the UN, there was a time that I had both Palestinians and Israelis meeting with me, trying to get them to meet and bring them together. There was a real interest in peace," he said.
Young said he believes the key to resolving the conflict rests in "a kind of no-fault solution."
"We do not want to re-fight all wars," he said. "We want to stop them."
The current war in Gaza is not good for anybody, and the international community needs to stop the violence and do something to build a better world, the retired diplomat stated.
"It is not hard [to reach a solution]," Young said when asked what the international community should do to stop the fighting in the Middle East. "It was easy in many conflicts and we probably could do this now."
Young, who served at the United Nations from 1977-1979, said people have to think about themselves as human beings on the same planet and urged them to start talking about the future of Earth. "I just wish we could work together to build a peaceful relationship with each other," he said.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a rocket attack against Israel and breached the border, attacking both civilian neighborhoods and military bases. Nearly 1,200 people in Israel were killed, and some 240 others were abducted during the attack.
Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, and began a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing hostages.
The death toll from Israeli strikes in Gaza has topped 39,000, with almost 90,000 people injured, according to the enclave's health ministry.
Touching on the upcoming 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, the former ambassador further indicated that the Summer Games would serve as a good time to establish peace solutions in global conflicts and find alternatives to war.
"I think that the upcoming Olympics is a good time to find the alternatives to war," Young said, noting that peacebuilding was the original intention of the Olympics when this competition was just in its beginning.
Aside from his diplomatic role, Young served as mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, until early 1990 and was directly involved in the preparation of the city’s bid to host the Olympics. He also served as co-chair of the Atlanta Committee for the 1996 Olympic Games.