Ministers reaffirm two-state solution at UN alliance meeting in New York

Foreign ministers meeting on the UN General Assembly's sidelines have reaffirmed the two-state solution while warning against Israeli settlement expansion.

• Foreign ministers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and others met Thursday at the Global Alliance for the Two-State Solution, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia, Norway and the EU.
• Jordan's Ayman Safadi said Israeli settlement expansion aims to end prospects for a two-state solution, which he called the only path to peace.
• Egypt's Badr Abdelatty affirmed support for a Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital, and rejected displacement of Palestinians.
• Saudi Arabia's Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Gaza cannot be separated from the West Bank, as neither can have a political future without the other.
• Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said the New York Declaration must be translated into concrete steps toward a sovereign Palestinian state.
• Nicolas Mladenov of the Council for Peace said Gaza's reconstruction is the foundation for, not a substitute for, a political settlement.
• Egypt's Badr Abdelatty welcomed the UK's decision to ban trade in goods and services from Israeli settlements.