MOSCOW, July 24 (RIA Novosti) - A top United Nations official has called for sustained efforts to renew serious dialog between Israel and Palestine.
“This is the moment to translate our collective call for action into a shared sense of urgency in supporting leaders on both sides as they must realize that this is an opening they cannot afford to lose,” Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
Serry briefed the 15-member Council on the Mideast peace developments in the wake of last week’s announcement by US Secretary of State John Kerry that a deal had been reached to resume talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
Serry said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had welcomed Kerry’s diplomatic efforts and noted that “some very tough choices” would be required from the two sides.
“We are convinced of the need for a broader regional and international role in support of any political initiative, as well as continued efforts to ensure that the Palestinian Authority remains a viable interlocutor and partner,” he said.
The Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and want Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it occupied after the 1967 war.
Israel has, however, refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to consider giving up a part of Jerusalem, which it says is the indivisible capital of the Jewish state.
