United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Photo: UN photo / Mark Garten.

JNS.org – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern with Israel’s “occupation” in the disputed territories on the Gregorian calendar’s 50th anniversary of the start of the Six-Day War, which saw Israel take control over eastern Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from June 5-10.

Guterres, who has previously slammed critics of Israel as anti-Semites and reaffirmed Jerusalem’s Jewish roots, shifted gears by saying the Israeli “occupation” sends “an unmistakable message to generations of Palestinians that their dream of statehood is destined to remain just that, a dream; and to Israelis that their desire for peace, security and regional recognition remains unattainable.”

The U.N. leader said only a two-state solution would “achieve the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”

“Now is the time to return to direct negotiations to resolve all final status issues on the basis of relevant UN resolutions, agreements and international law,” Guterres said. He blamed Israel’s “continued settlement construction,” as well as the Palestinians’ “violence and incitement” and “illicit arms buildup and militant activity in Gaza,” for advancing “a one-state reality that is incompatible with realizing the legitimate national and historic aspirations of both peoples.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) criticized Guterres’s “incomplete and misleading” comments, saying the Six-Day War anniversary “cannot be viewed in a vacuum.”

“It is grossly misleading to examine only the enduring effects of the war while ignoring the context in which the war took place — the belligerence of the Arab states in the spring of 1967, and the silence of the international community in the face of these threats and its failure to ensure the rights to free passage of international waterways,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

The Six-Day War’s Hebrew calendar anniversary, including Israel’s annual celebration of its reunification of Jerusalem, had been marked on May 23-24.