MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay insists on two-state solution for Palestinian crisis

Orsi and Lubetkin reiterated Uruguay's “concrete support for the agreement launched by France and Saudi Arabia and approved by 150 countries”

Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi and Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin met on Friday in New York with Palestine's Ambassador to the United Nations Riad Mansur on the sidelines of the global body's 80th General Assembly.

They discussed the ongoing crisis in Gaza, with the South American dignitaries stressing their support for the two-state solution with Israel while defining ways to provide “concrete support” to achieve that, as per the plan originally launched by France and Saudi Arabia and approved by 150 countries, including Uruguay.

Additionally, they reviewed urgent humanitarian issues, specifically the famine in Gaza, with a focus on finding ways to help -in Lubetkin's words- the “children who are victims of the massacre being suffered by the Palestinian people.”

In his message before the UN, President Orsi avoided using the term “genocide” but strongly criticized the “systematic practice of extermination” in modern wars. He also argued that no democratic state should “exercise barbarism against any civilian population,” especially vulnerable people.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva did mention a “genocide” while US President Donald Trump opposed recognizing a Palestinian state, calling it a “reward for Hamas.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that recognizing the State of Palestine would be “national suicide” for his country and pledged to “finish the job” in Gaza quickly, as attendees vacated the room as he spoke.

In Uruguay, the ruling Broad Front (Frente Amplio - FA) of President Orsi has condemned “the crimes against humanity and genocide” against Palestine being committed by Netanyahu's government.