United Nations
A UN Middle East Envoy has called for re-energizing international efforts to establish a political horizon that can end the occupation of Palestinian territory and achieve a two-State solution, as Security Council members took stock of developments following the formation of a new government in Israel in June.
Tor Wennesland, the special coordina-tor for the Middle East Peace Process, presenting the Secretary-General’s lat-est report on implementation of Security Council resolution, which called on Israel to cease all settlement activity in Palestinian lands, said recent engagement between senior Israeli and Palestinian officials – including a meeting in August between Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – is encouraging.
However, efforts must continue to ad-dress the ever-worrying situation on the ground, including reversing negative trends in the Occupied Pales-tinian Territory and stabilizing the fragile situation in Gaza, he told the 15-member Council in a briefing delivered via video-teleconference.
“I once again urge Israelis, Palestinians, regional states and the broader in-ternational community to take practical steps that will enable the parties to re-engage on the path to peace,” he said, adding that he will continue to engage with the Middle East Quartet, key re-gional partners and Israeli and Pales-tinian leaders in that regard.
Wennesland reported that during the June 12 to September 27 period cov-ered in the Secretary-General’s report, no new Israeli settlement housing plans were advanced or approved.
However, the seizure and demolition of Palestin-ian-owned structures continued in the West Bank, while daily violence left 24 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead.
He welcomed steps by the new Gov-ernment to ease the economic pressure on the Palestinian Authority and en-couraged their expansion.
The UN envoy also urged the two par-ties to act urgently to stabilize the Pal-estinian economy and strengthen Pal-estinian institutions.—APP
