The Secretary-General is pleased that, in collaboration with his counterparts from the Russian Federation, the United States and the European Union, the Quartet has today released its report highlighting the major threats to the two-state solution and providing recommendations on how to preserve and advance this goal.

He underscores the report’s finding that there is a strong need for affirmative steps to reverse negative trends on the ground. These trends risk entrenching a one-state reality of perpetual occupation and conflict which is incompatible with realising the national aspirations of both peoples.

The Secretary-General reiterates the Quartet’s pledge to actively support an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).  He also reiterates that a negotiated two-state outcome that meets Israeli security needs and creates a sovereign Palestinian state, ends the occupation that began in 1967, and resolves all permanent status issues is the only way to achieve an enduring peace.

He strongly encourages the parties to engage with the Quartet on implementing the report recommendations so as to rebuild hope among Palestinians and Israelis in a political solution and to create the conditions to return to meaningful negotiations.

The Secretary-General is also concerned by what appears to be a spike in violence over the past two days. He condemns all acts of terror and violence.