The conference, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, was attended by Palestine but absent from the United States, and featured high-level participation. The conference aimed to discuss ways to implement the two-state solution and support international recognition of the Palestinian state. The two-day conference concluded on Tuesday.
According to the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA), Abbas expressed in an initial statement his "appreciation and welcome of the New York Appeal issued by the foreign ministers of several countries that affirmed their recognition of the State of Palestine, and the desire of the countries that have not recognized it to recognize the State of Palestine."
WAFA indicated that these countries are Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia, and Spain.
Earlier on Wednesday, 15 Western countries, including France, issued a collective appeal to recognize the State of Palestine and to cease fire in the Gaza Strip. The appeal was published by the French Foreign Ministry on its website.
WAFA reported that the Palestinian president praised the positions of these countries, which he described as "courageous and affirming their commitment to the vision of a two-state solution and peace based on international law and relevant UN resolutions."
Abbas said, "These countries' recognition of the State of Palestine, or their declaration of their positive readiness to recognize the State of Palestine, represents a historic step toward achieving a just and comprehensive peace." He added that these international efforts "strengthen the end of the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital."
He called on other countries to join this appeal and contribute to advancing the political process based on the two-state solution, ensuring security and stability for all peoples of the region.
In the president's second statement, WAFA explained that Abbas welcomed the New York Declaration on the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian issue and the implementation of the two-state solution. The agency reported that Abbas stressed the critical importance of the conference's outcomes and the need to follow them up seriously.
He also expressed confidence that the specific steps announced at the New York conference would be implemented, saying, "This conference, with the diplomatic momentum and political dynamism it has created, will have tangible positive results on the path to ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital."
The conference's closing session, held on Tuesday evening, issued what became known as the "New York Declaration," which affirmed the agreement to take concrete, time-bound steps to achieve this goal.
The declaration stressed the need for collective action to end the war in Gaza, ensure Israel's withdrawal from the Strip, and hand it over to the Palestinian Authority. It emphasized that "the reconstruction of Gaza will take place with the support of an international fund and through a reconstruction conference to be held soon in Cairo."
He also called on Tel Aviv to issue a clear and public commitment to a two-state solution, including a sovereign and viable Palestinian state, to immediately end violence and incitement against Palestinians, and to halt all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The declaration emphasized the importance of recognizing the State of Palestine and granting it full membership in the United Nations. It also called for "Palestinian reforms, including elections within a year, and strengthening governance and security."
With American support, Israel has been waging a war of extermination in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
The genocide left approximately 206,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 9,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that claimed the lives of many.
