PGA Remarks at the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two State Solution

Remarks by the President of the General Assembly,
H.E. Ms. Annalena Baerbock
High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two State Solution

22 September 2025, 

General Assembly Hall
[As Delivered]

Your Excellency President Emmanuel Macron

Your Royal Highness, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman

Your Highness Prince Faisal Bin Farhan

Mr. Secretary-General,

Excellencies,

Taking over the Presidency of the General Assembly, I received many letters.

One moved me deeply.

Attached to it were drawings by three Palestinian children: Remas, Enas and Retal.

The images were heartbreaking.

One showed a school before and after, beneath a bright sun and a blue, clear sky.

In the first, is a school with open doors and happiness.

In the second, their school lies in rubble.

A lone boy stands on the debris of what must once have been his safe place.

Perhaps he had a favorite class, a favorite teacher, like our children; a best friend he played with there.

Now all of it is gone.

All of the laughter of the children blown away.

At that age, children should not be drawing pictures of war

Children should be learning mathematics.

They should be playing with friends and sketching dragons or castles.

Not death and destruction.

Yet for the children of Gaza, this is their reality.

Their horror has lasted for over 700 days.

Tens of thousands have lost their lives.

Tens of thousands of dreams which never will come true.

So many killed without the world even learning their names.

Until we heard one voice so loud, we could not unhear it.

The voice of Hind Rajab.

Captured in a phone call with the Red Crescent, while shelling rained down.

After the car she was in was attacked, over and over again, killing her aunt, uncle, and three of her cousins, next to her.

She called over and over again.

“I’m so scared, please come.”

The rescuers tried to calm her, as they tried to reach her.

They could not.

Hind was killed before help arrived.

The world failed her.

As the world also failed Kfir Bibas and his brother Ariel.

Kfir was just nine months old — the youngest child abducted by Hamas on October 7 — taken with his four-year-old brother Ariel, and their mother.

Both were killed in Gaza by terrorists.

The world will remember their names as symbols of innocent childhood stolen by terror.

I have met with the families of the hostages.

Fathers, mothers, siblings, aunts and grandparents, still waiting for their loved ones to come home, from wherever Hamas is holding them. After more than 700 days.

I have also met with Palestinian families: fathers, mothers, siblings, aunts and grandparents. Whose loved ones are buried in the ruins of Gaza.

Their message is always the same.

We want peace.

Or as one Israeli mother told me,

“It does not bring my child back if a Palestinian mother loses her child in Gaza.”

Humanity is not about choosing sides.

It is about recognizing that every life matters the same.

A life is a life.

A Palestinian girl’s life is a life.

An Israeli boy’s life is a life.

All the children of the Middle East deserve to grow up, knowing only the sun shining on their schools.

The laughter of their friends in the playground.

And the joy of a meal shared with their families.

Not the horrors of starvation.

Not the horrors of war and terror.

Excellencies,

The General Assembly has been very clear:

• We need an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, now.
  Israel must immediately facilitate the full, rapid, safe and unhindered entry and delivery of humanitarian assistance to all Palestinian civilians.
• Hamas must immediately and unconditionally release all remaining hostages.

But the horrors of Gaza make equally clear that we cannot allow such devastation to happen again.

While the situation in Gaza is unacceptable, settlement expansion and demolitions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are eroding any prospects for a political solution.

The decade long Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be resolved by endless war, permanent occupation, and recurrent terror.

The only way to ensure that future generations of both Palestinians and Israelis can live in peace, security, and dignity is the two-state solution.

As the Secretary General has said, it is a right, not a reward, to live in your own state. As all human around the world.

We know that some think this is a naïve wish.

The first resolution on this matter is almost as old as this organization.

78 years ago, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 laying the foundation for two-states, knowing it is the only way for peace.

And to those of you who argue now “But we have tried for decades and failed over and over again” there can only be one answer:

If we would stop aiming for what is right because we have not succeeded yet, then evil would prevail.

That would be the end of this institution.

This institution, which promised to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

It would erode the UN’s foundational mission: to achieve peace, justice, and equal rights for both Israelis and Palestinians.

Excellencies,

That is why today’s Conference and the New York Declaration are so crucial.

The message we are sending today is:

No, we are not giving up.

The international community does not only remain committed to the Two-State Solution.

We are also identifying tangible, timebound and irreversible steps for its realization.

And we are willing to take decisive measures and provide international guarantees.

Of course, this Conference—and the New York Declaration—will face criticism.

Some will say a piece of paper cannot change realities on the ground for Palestinians.

Others will dismiss the vision of two states outright.

But the fact remains: the New York Declaration was endorsed by 142 Member States.

And this majority clearly says:

• The war in Gaza must end now.
• It condemns the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians on 7 October.
• It condemns the attacks by Israel against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza.
• It calls on Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons.
• A sovereign and viable State of Palestine needs to be established, living side by side, with the State of Israel in peace and security with mutually recognized borders and full regional integration.

Excellencies,

The call for peace and the two-state solution is not an abstract.

Not for the children watching missiles destroy their schools.

Not for the families waiting for news that their sons and daughters might be released from captivity.

Not for the UN staff in Gaza who have witnessed their colleagues shot.

Not for those who have been injured or maimed. And will have to live with the trauma of this conflict for the rest of their lives.

It is an aspiration.

But it is also an obligation.

We owe it to the memory of Hind, Kfir and Ariel, and the many many others.

And we owe it to children like Remas, Enas and Retal – and all the children of Palestine and Israel hoping for a better tomorrow,

So that they may not inherit rubble, grief, and despair.

But safety, dignity and hope.

To live one day in peace.

Side by side.