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UN envoy calls for resumption of Mideast peace talks

Xinhua, February 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

The UN envoy to peace in the Middle East Nikolay Mladenov on Wednesday called on Israel and the Palestinians to end the ongoing wave of violent tension in the Palestinian territories and get back to peace talks.

"The ongoing fire shooting won't contribute in pushing the peace process forward, while Israeli settlement and homes demolition are an obstacle for the two-state solution," Mladenov told a news briefing in Gaza City.

After Islamic Hamas movement clearly announced two weeks ago that its militants dig tunnels underneath Gaza to prepare for the next battle with Israel, Mladenov said "digging tunnels and firing rockets won't restore clam in Gaza."

Mladenov, who arrived in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave on Tuesday, for a two-day visit, told reporters that the only way to restore calm is to carry on with the ceasefire agreement reached at the end of 2014 Israeli offensive on Gaza.

"The priority for the Gaza populations is to see an end to the Israeli blockade, an opening of the crossing points, finalize the construction plan and implement the principle of the two-state solution," said Mladenov.

The last Israeli army large-scale offensive waged on the Gaza Strip for 50 days during the summer of 2014 left large destruction in housing and infrastructure, were more than 18,000 housing units were completely destroyed.

Mladenov called on "the two sides" Israel and the Palestinians, to bring the situation back to what it used to be called the resumption of the Middle East peace process., adding "the situation on the ground shouldn't continue like that."

Mladenov arrived on Tuesday afternoon in Gaza for a two-day visit to check an ongoing construction plan the UN is supervising.

He crossed into the coastal enclave through Erez Crossing on the border between northern Gaza and Israel.

As soon as the senior global official arrived in Gaza, he went with other senior UN officials to al-Shuja'eya neighborhood in eastern Gaza city to check the process of construction that goes on in the neighborhood.

It is Mladenov's second visit to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip since last December.

Mladenov held meetings with senior Palestinian officials, who are responsible for running the plan. He will hold a news briefing on Wednesday in Gaza city, according to a UN source. Endit