"Only way to stop this carnage is political solution": Palestine envoy to India Shawesh calls for two-state solution

New Delhi [India], August 13 (ANI): Palestinian Ambassador to India Abdullah M Abu Shawesh emphasised that the two-state solution remains the only viable and internationally accepted path to end the occupation and bring peace.
Referencing recent UN Security Council briefings, Abu Shawesh highlighted alarming statistics from the West Bank, including 76 Palestinians (18 children) killed and 3,800 displaced due to violence and demolitions in 2026.
In an interview with ANI, Abu Shawesh said, "The only way to stop this carnage, the only way to stop this genocide, the only way to stop the Israeli and to hold Israel accountable and to abide by international law is a political solution."
India strongly and consistently supported a negotiated two-state solution to establish a sovereign, independent, and viable State of Palestine living side-by-side in peace with Israel within secure and recognised borders.
New Delhi regularly reiterated this position at international forums like the United Nations, BRICS, and bilateral summits.
According to the Security Council briefing on August 11, "Israeli authorities have approved or advanced about 12,360 housing units in the occupied West Bank" and "$431 million to support 34 new settlements."
As stated in the briefing, "76 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers... including 18 children," while "3,800 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, were displaced due to settler violence, demolitions and evictions."
It was also stated, "Israel is withholding $6 billion in clearance revenues."
According to the briefing, "UN verified 174 Palestinian children killed in the West Bank between January 2024 and July 2026."
Abu Shawesh said the figures reflected the worsening situation faced by Palestinians. "In 2026 alone, 76 Palestinians have been killed; 18 of them are children in the West Bank. Some of those people had been documented as not posing any threat to anyone," he said.
On displacement, he said, "Since 2026, 3,800 settler attacks have been conducted against the Palestinians. 3,800 of the Palestinians have been expelled from their homes; half of them are children."
On the economic situation, he said, "We are talking about 6 billion dollars that have been withheld from our tax money up to today, which has led the Palestinian economy at large, which leads two main sectors in the Palestinian economy, of course, education itself and the health system itself, to the brink of collapse."
It was also stated in the Security Council briefing that "at least 355 Palestinian children are currently held in detention facing harsh conditions, mistreatment, and inadequate nutrition."
It further said Israel had "approved 104 settlements in four years, an increase of 80 per cent."
On the broader situation, Abu Shawesh said, "This is just the tip of the iceberg of what we as a Palestinian people endured and faced in the Palestinian territory. This is in the West Bank alone; this is not in Gaza."
Asked about expectations from the international community, the Palestinian envoy said humanitarian assistance could mitigate some consequences but would not resolve the underlying issue.
"UNICEF can mitigate, the United Nations can mitigate, and India, by helping the Palestinian people, can mitigate some of the consequences of the Israeli occupation. But no one can alone solve the essence or the essential problem, which is the Israeli occupation itself, which needs a political solution," he said.
"The only political solution that is still valid and applicable and acceptable from the international community at large, from India, from everyone, from us as a Palestinian people is the two-state solution," he added.
Abu Shawesh said the situation would continue to worsen unless the root cause was addressed. "All of these are figures, all of these are numbers, and will continue to be unless we solve the root of the problem, which is the Israeli occupation itself," he said.
He said Palestinians were prepared to establish their state on 22 per cent of their historical land. "We accept as Palestinians to build our state in only 22 percent of our historical land," Abu Shawesh said.
His response comes as on August 11, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hannan Sulieman, addressing the UN Security Council in New York, said, "Children in the West Bank have the same rights as children everywhere: to live, to learn, to be protected, and to imagine a future beyond violence and fear.UNICEF will continue to advocate for the protection of all children and to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to every child we can reach."
"But Humanitarian organizations cannot create the political conditions that children need to be safe. That responsibility rests with Member States who have the power to change them," Sulieman said. (ANI)