Roundup: Senior UN official calls for new efforts to defuse possible tensions between Palestinians, Israelis

A senior UN official on Wednesday called for new talks and international support to defuse possible tensions between Palestinians and Israelis as he warned that further escalation remains possible in the conflict in the region and could be highly damaging to both parties and to the two- State solution.

Jeffrey Feltman, the UN under-secretary-general for political affairs, made the appeal as he was briefing the UN Security Council after what he said "another tumultuous and deadly month" in the Middle East.

"We see the circumstances in Gaza as becoming increasingly worrisome as we approach the six-month mark since the end of last summer's conflict," said Feltman. "The combination of the failure to rectify the persistent governance and security issues and the slow pace of reconstruction has created an increasingly toxic environment."

The failure of the U.S. initiative to push forward the stalled peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, as well as the 50-day large-scale Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in the summer, have induced a deeper tension to their historic conflict that has been going on for decades.

A real peace between Israel and the Palestinians was not made during 2014, as the U.S.-sponsored direct peace talks between the two sides, after lasting for nine months without achieving any significant progress, were suspended earlier last year.

Israel has intensified its plans of settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, neglecting the Palestinians' outrage and warnings that such plans would endanger the U.S.- backed two-State solution for a real peace. The two-State solution, widely backed by the international community, means a secure Israel to live in peace with an independent State of Palestine.

For a comprehensive peace, a priority had to be establishing a framework to get there, Feltman said. The international community, possibly through a reinvigorated diplomatic Quartet, could help parties to avoid a downward slide and support a return to negotiations. The Middle East Quartet groups the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia in search of the two-State solution.

While the United Nations would continue its active role in supporting such efforts, international efforts could not succeed in isolation.

"A genuine and lasting peace can only be reached by the commitment of the parties to overcome their mistrust and make the difficult compromises necessary to achieve a resolution to this conflict," said Feltman.

Pointing to a total of 200 million U.S. dollars withheld by the Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority faced acute fiscal challenges, and economic activity had contracted in 2014 for the first time since 2006.

"Paralyzing the Palestinian Authority from conducting essential Government business -- including functions related to health services and law and order -- is in no one's interest," said Feltman. "Israel's action is a violation of its obligations under the Paris Protocol of the Oslo Accords and we, again, call for an immediate reversal of this decision."

Parties to the conflict had primary responsibility to resolve issues but a key component of reversing negative trends would be implementation by the international community of financial commitments made at the Cairo Conference.

The current failure to deliver the necessary support put an almost "unbearable strain" on an already highly fractious environment, he said.

"Four months after the Cairo Conference, donors have yet to fulfill the majority of their pledges," Feltman said. "This is, quite frankly, unacceptable, and cannot continue if we hope to avoid another escalation in Gaza."

Meanwhile, the UN political chief drew attention to the joint letter appealing to donors to honor their financial commitments without further delay, with UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in need of 100 million U.S. dollars and support also needed for other UN agencies.

The United Nations had partnered with the government of Palestine to launch the Strategic Response Plan for 2015, requesting 705 million U.S. dollars aiming to meet the humanitarian needs of 1.6 million Palestinians, with 75 percent of the Plan dedicated to Gaza.

In addition, the temporary Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism was " functioning and delivering concrete results," he said, pointing to 50 construction projects that were under consideration, including 18 already approved, and to 47,000 people cleared, out of a total of 75,000, to receive construction material for shelter repairs.

The under-secretary-general also drew attention to the situation in the occupied West Bank, where one Palestinian was killed and 156 were injured, including 31 children and five women, by Israeli security forces. Four members of the Israeli security forces were injured during the same period and 12 passengers were stabbed on a commuter bus in Tel Aviv, while clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers continued.

He urged Israel to cease demolition of Palestinian structures in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem and Area C, and to facilitate international assistance to vulnerable communities.

"We are deeply disappointed by Israeli authorities' decision to issue on 30 January tenders for the construction of some 450 residential units in West Bank settlements, at a time when the situation is extremely volatile," Feltman said.

As well as discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Feltman also explained UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's concern about violations of the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between Israeli and Syrian forces in January, and a serious breach of the cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel on 28 January, which resulted in the death of a UN Interim Force in Lebanon ( UNIFIL) peacekeeper serving in the Spanish contingent.

UNIFIL was in the process of finalizing its investigation of the incident with the cooperation of both parties, he added. Endite