Gaza, Palestinian future to dominate UN gathering

More than 140 world leaders will descend on New York next week for the annual United Nations General Assembly summit, which will be dominated this year by the future of the Palestinians and Gaza.

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One world leader who will miss the gathering is Mahmud Abbas, the Palestinian president who Washington denied US visas to attend, along with his officials.

The humanitarian catastrophe ravaging the small Palestinian territory will dominate debates at the high-level event, two years after the beginning of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that was triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

Saudi Arabia and France will co-chair meetings from Monday on the future of the Israeli and Palestinian two-state solution, which aims to see both sides existing alongside one another in peace.

This meeting is expected to see the formal recognition of a Palestinian state by several countries, notably France, after the overwhelming adoption last week by the General Assembly of a text supporting a future Palestinian state albeit without Hamas.

International Crisis Group analyst Richard Gowan called it a “symbolic” gesture that could have real significance “if the countries that recognize Palestine follow up with further steps to try and put pressure on Israel to end its campaign in Gaza.”