Guterres, marking 50 years since the start of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, reiterated a call for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
In the 1967 war, Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and subsequently annexed east Jerusalem, in a move never recognised by the global community.
"The worldwide community's non-recognition of the Israel's occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, proves that the Palestinian cause is firm and that the Palestinian people will not be defeated".
Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza do not have the legal right to vote in Israeli elections, can not move freely around the state of Israel and do not have Israeli citizenship despite living in an administrative territory of Israel. Fighting included Egypt, Jordan, Syria and to a lesser extent, Iraq and Lebanon. But in late May, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced that he would close the straits to Israeli vessels, then mobilised its forces along its border with Israel. Israel also captured the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, all ancient Jewish Commonwealth lands. In 1967, at the end of the war, Israel immediately annexed east Jerusalem.
Walid Sayed takes a break from tending to his flock of sheep near the West Bank town of Burin.
The idea of pursuing peace now with willing Gulf States appeals to the right-wing Israeli government and many of its supporters in the policy community, for two reasons. Israel's victory was total.
"No one talked about a Palestinian state in 1967".
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Construction in recent years has involved expanding existing settlements in the West Bank, with many countries warning it is gradually eating away at any chance of a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
The top United Nations human rights official called on Tuesday for Israel to pull out of territories captured in a 1967 war that Palestinians now seek for a state, saying it would benefit both sides after 50 years of enmity.
Many believe that only outside pressure, primarily from the U.S., can lead to the resolution of the conflict.
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised on Tuesday to continue building settlements in the West Bank and called himself the first prime minister in decades, who will promote building a new Jewish settlement there".
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry responded by blasting Netanyahu for issuing what it described as his "contradictory positions".
"Abu Mazen (Abbas) is punishing freed prisoners by suspending the salaries they and their families rely on.We believe the Palestinian Authority has succumbed to American and Israeli pressure", he said. The war officially ended on June 11, Israel coming out victorious.
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