Ministers gather at UN for delayed conference on Palestinian statehood

Dozens of ministers from around the world are set to gather at the United Nations on Monday for a delayed conference discussing the establishment of a Palestinian state. 

The US and Israel are boycotting the event.

The 193-member UN General Assembly had decided in September last year that such a conference would be held in 2025, to be hosted by France and Saudi Arabia. However, it was postponed in June after Israel's surprise attack on Iran.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Sunday that he would use the conference to push other countries to join France in recognising a Palestinian state.

France intends to recognise a Palestinian state in September at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, President Emmanuel Macron announced last week.

"We will launch an appeal in New York so that other countries join us to initiate an even more ambitious and demanding dynamic that will culminate on September 21," Barrot said. He added that he expected Arab countries by then to condemn Hamas and call for its disarmament.

The UN has long endorsed a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

The UN General Assembly in May last year overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognising it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council "reconsider the matter favourably." The resolution garnered 143 votes in favour and nine against.

The General Assembly vote was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member - a move that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state - after the US vetoed it in the UN Security Council weeks earlier.