{"id":238662,"date":"2020-09-16T14:51:11","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T18:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=238662"},"modified":"2020-09-21T16:33:36","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T20:33:36","slug":"abraham-accord-quartet-press-conference-by-secretary-general-antonio-guterres-at-un-headquarters-sg-sm-20258-excerpts","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/abraham-accord-quartet-press-conference-by-secretary-general-antonio-guterres-at-un-headquarters-sg-sm-20258-excerpts\/","title":{"rendered":"Abraham Accord, Quartet – Press Conference by Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Headquarters (SG\/SM\/20258) (Excerpts)"},"content":{"rendered":"
SG\/SM\/20258<\/strong>
\n16 SEPTEMBER 2020<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Following is a transcript of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres\u2019 press conference, held in New York today:<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question:<\/strong>\u00a0 Thank you very much, Mr.\u00a0Secretary\u2011General, and it is nice to see you.\u00a0 Edith Lederer from the Associated Press.\u00a0 We all saw yesterday\u2019s ceremony at the White House, where Israel signed diplomatic agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.\u00a0 Do you believe that this opens up new prospects for peace in the Middle East? \u00a0And what is your message to the Palestinians, who were very angered about this?<\/p>\n

Secretary-General:<\/strong>\u00a0 I think it\u2019s important to seize the opportunities that exist.\u00a0 That agreement, independently of its context, managed one very important result, and that was the suspension of the annexation of occupied territory.\u00a0 Now, we always have said that that annexation would have dramatic consequences to the peace and stability in the region, would undermine the two\u2011State solution.\u00a0 And we believe that the two\u2011State solution is the only way to address the problem of the two peoples that need to be able to live together in peace and security.\u00a0 This opportunity now exists.\u00a0 The annexation was suspended, and we believe it\u2019s the moment in which it\u2019s important that Palestinians and Israelis restart their dialogue in order to find a political solution in line with what are the Security Council resolutions and the different [inaudible] of the international community in this regard.\u00a0 And so, I believe that, independently of the opinions that might exist about the agreement, it would be very important for Palestinians and Israelis to engage in direct negotiations for peace in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Question:<\/strong>\u00a0 Could I ask a quick follow\u2011up? \u00a0Is the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ doing anything to promote these negotiations as part of the Quartet, for example?<\/p>\n

Secretary-General:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, we\u2019ve been pushing hard not only to promote direct contact, but also to try to find a format in which the Quartet or a group of countries linked to the Quartet could meet.\u00a0 Until now, we were not able to gather the consensus necessary for that, but we will persist in our efforts.\u00a0 It is very important not to give up on the peace process in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question:<\/strong>\u00a0 Mr.\u00a0Secretary\u2011General, beyond the question of annexation, do you have anything to say about the fact that, for the first time in 26\u00a0years, in more than quarter century, there was an agreement by two Arab States to normalize relations with Israel and break a pattern that has lasted for such a long time?\u00a0 Also, can you comment on the execution of Navid Afkari in Iran?<\/p>\n

Secretary-General:<\/strong>\u00a0 Well, first of all, in relation to the agreements, we were the first\u2026 or one of the first to welcome the agreement, and I think that international cooperation is an absolutely essential aspect to solve problems.\u00a0 Obviously, the question of the annexation is politically important, because it allows for the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve just seen today that Mr.\u00a0[Benny] Gantz said that it\u2019s important to restart those negotiations, which show that there is an agreement with this perspective.\u00a0 On the other [question], we are against death penalty in all circumstances.\u00a0 I\u2019m a strong believer that death penalty should never be applied to anybody anywhere.\u00a0 I believe my country is either the first or one of the two or three firsts that abolished death penalty, and I will consider the fight against death penalty as a major, major objective in my tenure in the United Nations.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question:<\/strong>\u00a0 Hello.\u00a0 Thanks for your\u2026 taking my question, Secretary\u2011General.\u00a0 You mentioned just a little earlier it\u2019s very important not to give up on the peace process in the Middle East.\u00a0 It seems the Palestinians seem to have given up on following through on peace agreements, and the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ only seems to encourage that rejection.\u00a0 With that said, don\u2019t you think the historic Abrahamic Accord signed yesterday should be seen as a positive way forward to peace in the region? \u00a0And would you encourage the Palestinian leadership to accept them fully and return to peace talks with Israelis? \u00a0Thank you.<\/p>\n

Secretary-General:<\/strong>\u00a0 I do believe it\u2019s absolutely essential that Palestinians and Israelis go back to direct negotiations, and I will do everything I can to make sure that we find the format \u2014 Quartet or similar format \u2014 in which a number of countries can be helpful in making sure that the peace process can move forward.\u00a0 It is absolutely clear for me that this is a problem that need to be solved, and I hope that what was achieved in relation to the\u2026 namely, in relation to the suspension, I hope that that will create an opportunity for direct talks between Palestinians and Israelis that I believe are essential to solve the problem.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

For information media. Not an official record.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SG\/SM\/20258 16 SEPTEMBER 2020 Following is a transcript of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres\u2019 press conference, held in New York today: \/… Question:\u00a0 Thank you very much, Mr.\u00a0Secretary\u2011General, and it is nice to see you.\u00a0 Edith Lederer from the Associated Press.\u00a0 We all saw yesterday\u2019s ceremony at the White House, where Israel signed diplomatic agreements with […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[690,897,1593,1197,2553],"document-category":[1699,1869],"document-source":[2329,5352,6169],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2849,2365,2181,1797,1905,2073,1638],"entity":[1889,1729],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-238662","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-bahrain","country-israel","country-palestine-state-of","country-united-arab-emirates","country-united-states-of-america","document-category-press-conference","document-category-transcript","document-source-quartet","document-source-secretary-general","document-source-united-nations-department-of-global-communications","document-subject-annexation","document-subject-international-presence","document-subject-negotiations-and-agreements","document-subject-peace-process","document-subject-peace-proposals-and-efforts","document-subject-peace-building","document-subject-quartet","entity-intergovernmental-organization-or-multilateral","entity-united-nations-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/238662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/238662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=238662"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=238662"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=238662"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=238662"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=238662"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=238662"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=238662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}