The chief of the European diplomacy, Federica Mogherini, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the margins of the 70th United Nations General Assembly, following an earlier meeting of the Quartet on the Middle East. Both leaders talked about the current tensions in the Holy Sites of Jerusalem and emphasized the need to revive the Middle East Peace Process. Federica Mogherini mostly followed on the previous statement by the Quarter saying it was crucial to remain consistent with prior agreement and to reverse current negative trends in Gaza and the West Bank. Moreover, she said that further work on the political track of the peace process should be made on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative, as stated also by the Quartet.
Both sides reiterated their support to the two-state solution to the conflict. The solution calls for “two states for two groups of people” envisaging an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel. However, the exact boundary between both states is disputed. The Arab and Palestinian leadership insists on the “1967 borders”, which is not acceptable for Israel. The two-state solution is based on the 1974 UN resolutions on the “peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine” calling for “two States, Israel and Palestine … side by side within secure and recognized borders”.
The Palestinians have generally embraced the concept of a two-state solution since the mid-1970s and its leadership supported it formally in 1982. There have been many political efforts to realize the solution starting at the 1991 Madrid Conference through the 1993 Oslo Accords and the unsuccessful 2000 Camp David Summit. In 2002, the Arab League came up with the Arab Peace Initiative and the latest initiative was the 2013-2014 peace talks, which also failed.
