(MENAFN- Swissinfo) The UN has been largely marginalised in the Middle East since the start of the Gaza war two years ago. But that is not stopping it from pushing for a peaceful solution. This content was published on October 2, 2025 - 09:25 8 minutes Annegret Mathari

On September 22, all eyes were on the UN at the start of the UN General Assembly in New York. That day, eleven countries recognised Palestine as a state, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Portugal and France, bringing the total countries recognising the state to 157 out of the 193 UN member countries.

At the same time, Israel was pursuing a large-scale ground offensive on Gaza City, leading to further casualties and displacement of the population.

In response to the action at the UN, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately accused leaders of countries recognising Palestine of“giving terrorism a huge reward.” He added that that there would“be no Palestinian state.” Two of his cabinet ministers from far-right political parties called for the permanent annexation of the occupied West Bank.

The most recent recognitions of Palestine come on the back of a near two-year Israeli war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and thrown some two million people into poverty. The UN has officially declared a famine in the territory and a UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded earlier in September that Isreal has committed genocide.
Isreal denies both claims.

The war was triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which members of the militant group killed over 1,100 people and took 251 hostages.

The UN summit recently hosted by France and Saudi Arabia attempted to revive the“two-state solution”: an Israeli and a Palestinian state coexisting within secure and recognised borders.

But without backing by the United States and Israel, can the declarations go beyond the symbolic? What role, if any, can the UN now have in a sustainable resolution of the conflict, especially now that US president Donald Trump has put his own peace plan on the table without any UN involvement?

Political framework

“As long as the US systematically supports Israel – including through vetoes in the Security Council – nothing will happen in the Security Council,” Marc Finaud, a researcher at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and a former French diplomat, tells Swissinfo.

Only the UN Security Council can establish a political framework for the implementation of a two-state solution. The organ remains paralysed by the veto power of its five permanent members.
But by pushing for a two-state solution, the UN continues to play a political role in the Middle East, Finaud adds.

The UN summit was based on the“New York Declaration”, which was adopted that same month by the UN General Assembly by a large majority of 142 states, including Switzerland. The declaration called for“a just and lasting peace based on international law and the two-state solution”. It called for the release all hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas, the disarmament of the militant group and its exclusion from governance in Gaza, as well as collective security guarantees.

The world summit in New York took place“against a particularly troubling regional backdrop,” the UN said, including“Israeli air strikes on Hamas leaders in Qatar on 9 September; and the acceleration of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank (in violation of international law)”.

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