A UN spokeswoman said Friday that an international conference to revive the idea of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict will take place from June 17 to 20 at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

According to the Times of Israel, the conference stems from a resolution approved in December by the UN General Assembly, and France and Saudi Arabia will co-chair it. A diplomat in Paris close to preparations for the conference said it should pave the way for more countries to recognize a full-blown Palestinian state.

Nearly 150 countries recognize the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority as the State of Palestine, which has observer status at the United Nations but is not a full member as the UN Security Council has not voted to admit it.

In May 2024, Ireland, Norway, and Spain officially recognized a Palestinian state, a move that sparked significant backlash from Israel.

Although other European nations, including France, have withheld recognition, French President Emmanuel Macron indicated in April that France might recognize a Palestinian state in the upcoming months, potentially at a conference scheduled for June.

This statement elicited a strong response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described the potential recognition as a “huge prize for terror.”

Macron emphasized his intention to organize the New York conference to promote not only the recognition of a Palestinian state but also to facilitate the recognition of Israel by countries that have yet to do so.

Previous normalization agreements nuance the situation, as seen in the Abraham Accords, which were signed in 2020 between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco during the administration of former US President Donald Trump.

However, several Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Lebanon, have not yet joined these accords, although Trump has suggested that Syria and Saudi Arabia could potentially participate in the future.

Before the outbreak of hostilities following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, the prospect of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel appeared promising, with Israeli ministers making historic visits to the kingdom.

However, the subsequent escalation of anti-Israel sentiment in the Arab world has complicated these discussions. Currently, Riyadh is conditioning any normalization of ties on the establishment of a pathway toward Palestinian statehood, which is at odds with the position of Netanyahu’s government.

Some members of his administration have even advocated for the annexation of the West Bank, a territory captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967, which the United Nations has designated for a future Palestinian state.

The government has also accused the Palestinian Authority of inciting to terrorism in its school system and through the payment of stipends to Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.