The UN will accept nothing other than a two-state solution, warns Guterres

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remained the only viable option as he made his first visit to the West Bank since taking office.

Guterres spoke after meeting Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Ramallah following talks with Israeli leaders the previous day.

"I want to express very strongly the total commitment of the United Nations but my personal total commitment to do everything for a two-state solution to materialise," he said.

"I have said several times there is no Plan B to a two-state solution."

A two-state solution to the conflict has been the basis of international diplomacy since at least the early 1990s, but it has recently come under threat.

“A two-state solution that will end the occupation and, with the creation of conditions, also the suffering even to the Palestinian people, is in my opinion the only way to guarantee that peace is established,” he added.

His comments come after Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed to never remove Israeli settlements in a speech on Monday. Guterres reiterated the UN’s stance that Israeli settlements built in Palestine are illegal.

"We have returned here for eternity," Netanyahu said, speaking at a ceremony in the settlement of Barkan in the northern West Bank.

The right-wing leader's pledge came after a meeting earlier in the day with Guterres.

"There will be no more uprooting of settlements in the land of Israel. Settlements will not be uprooted," he said, implying his rejection of the two-state solution and the complete invasion and occupation of Palestine.