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UN envoy urges incoming Israeli gov't to renew commitment to two-state solution

Xinhua, March 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Process Robert Serry Thursday urged the incoming Israeli government to demonstrate in words and actions the commitment to the two-state solution.

In his departing briefing to the Security Council after working as the special coordinator for more than seven years, the envoy said he is concerned by pre-election remarks of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which raised "serious doubts" about Israel's commitment to the two-state solution.

"I urge the incoming Israeli government to seize the opportunity to a fresh mandate to quickly demonstrate in words and, more importantly by actions, this commitment," Serry told the council.

The UN envoy made the appeal at a time when Netanyahu was beginning talks on forming a new government after disavowal in a campaign speech of support for a Palestinian state under his watch.

Serry also called on Israel to immediately reverse the decision to withhold the Palestinian tax revenues and stop the settlement planning and activity.

"The minimum conditions of trust cannot be restored without the new Israeli government taking credible steps to freeze settlement activity," he said.

"Illegal settlement activity cannot be reconciled with the objective of a negotiated two-state solution and may kill the very possibility of reaching peace on the paradigm of two states for two peoples," Serry said.

Reflecting his work as special coordinator since November 2007, Serry said that he felt the peace process in the Middle East is something like "a can is kicked down an endless road," noting that three U.S.-led peace initiatives remained inconclusive.

The envoy called to attention that all three stalled negotiations were followed by wars in Gaza and urged the international community to fix the war-torn strip, "or at least stabilize it."

He told the media after the briefing that he felt " disheartening" for what happened in the past seven years, calling on all parties to think over "how to achieve the two-state solution."

He also appealed to the UN Security Council to play its part in promoting the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis.

"It remains the primary responsibility of this Council to play its role in developing a new peace architecture for resolving the conflict at long last."

Nickolay Mladenov of Bulgaria will succeed Serry to become the new UN envoy to the Middle East. Endite