There is "no Plan B" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, UN chief Antonio Guterres said as he warned against any action to undermine the possibility of the two-state solution.
His comments came as President Donald Trump signalled a change in long-held US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
"First of all, with a complete agreement that there is no Plan B to the situation between Palestinians and Israelis but a two-state solution and that everything must be done to preserve that possibility," Guterres said in his remarks at a press encounter with Egypt's Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo yesterday.
In a separate address to students at Cairo University, the Secretary General stressed that there is no alternative to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but the two-state solution and that no actions should be taken to undermine that possibility.
He said the conflicts in Nigeria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan are all interlinked as well as connected to a new threat of global terrorism.
"And it is good not to forget that probably the mother of these conflicts is probably in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, lasting for decades and decades without a solution, and the reason why, in a moment like this, it is important today to stress that in my opinion, and I believe in the opinion of the UN, the overwhelming majority of the membership, there is no plan B but the two-states solution and for that [it is necessary] to avoid all actions that undermine the possibility of the two-state solution," he said.
Guterres remarks come as Trump, during a joint press conference in the White House with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, signalled debunking America's long pursuit of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, saying he could endorse a one-nation solution if it led to peace in the Middle East.
Breaking away from Washington's long-held policy on the issue, Trump had said he would be open to "alternate solutions" that does not necessarily involve a two-state solution to the six-decades long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"It is something that is very different, hasn't been discussed before. Its actually a much bigger deal - much more important deal in a sense," Trump said.
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