UNITED NATIONS, US
After three days in which the
war in Ukraine consumed world leaders at the United Nations,
other conflicts and concerns are beginning to emerge.
Some are long-simmering ones
with global reach that have receded from the public’s attention recently.
Israel’s prime minister called for the establishment of a Palestinian state in
a speech Thursday that focused on that conflict. The Palestinian president
speaks on Friday.
Others are regional conflicts
that have flared. Armenia’s prime minister warned that “the risk of new
aggression by Azerbaijan remains very high” after the largest outbreak
of hostilities between the two adversaries in nearly two years. The
ex-Soviet countries are locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part
of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed
by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.
Leaders from Iraq and
Pakistan, meanwhile, take the stage Friday. Both nations are pivotal to the
geopolitical world order but have received less global attention in recent
years.
The annual gathering of
leaders at the U.N. General Assembly provides an opportunity for each country
to air its concerns and express its hopes. This year’s meeting has thus far
focused heavily on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing war, as
countries have deplored how the conflict has upended the geopolitical order,
repeatedly raised the
specter of nuclear disaster and unleashed food
and energy crises.
Russia and Ukraine faced off
Thursday at a Security
Council meeting — an extraordinary if brief encounter during which the
top diplomats from nations at war were in the same room exchanging barbs and
accusations, albeit not directly to each other.
At the meeting, the United
States called on other nations to tell Russia to stop making nuclear threats
and end “the horror” of its war. Moscow repeated its frequent claims that Kyiv
has long oppressed Russian speakers in Ukraine’s east — one of the explanations
Vladimir Putin’s government has offered for the invasion.
The Security Council meeting
came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking to the
assembled leaders via video, insisted
that his forces would win the war and demanded more robust U.N.
action. The General Assembly gave Zelenskyy a pass from leaving his wartime
nation so he could appear remotely — a decision Russia opposed.
Meanwhile, over in the
assembly hall, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid delivered a speech focused on
the Palestinians.
The speech, ahead of Nov. 1
elections, appeared to be part of an effort by Lapid to portray himself — both
to voters and global leaders — as a statesman and moderate alternative to his
main rival, hardline former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“An agreement with the
Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for
Israel’s security, for Israel’s economy and for the future of our children,”
Lapid said.
But he was short on details,
and there is virtually no chance Lapid, who has long supported a two-state
solution, will get to push forward with his vision. Israel’s parliament is
dominated by parties that oppose Palestinian independence, and opinion polls
forecast a similar result after the upcoming elections.
The Palestinians seek the West
Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip — territories captured by Israel in
1967 — for an independent state, a position that enjoys wide international
support.
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