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Diplomatic Quartet to prepare report to lay ground for Israel-Palestine talks: UN envoy

Xinhua, March 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

The UN envoy for the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Wednesday unveiled a plan by the diplomatic Quartet to produce a report that would help create a political environment for the two sides to resume peace negotiations.

Speaking at a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York, Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said the Quartet, in its last principals meeting in the German city of Munich, decided to compile a report that will examine impediments to a two-state solution and recommend the way forward.

The work has already started and the Quartet is seeking inputs from both sides and other stakeholders, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, to produce a good assessment, he said.

He expressed hope that the report, to be concluded in a few months, will inform the international opinion and consolidate consensus on a two-state solution as the only viable option.

The Middle East peace process has been stalled since April 2014 due to deep differences between over borders and continued Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank. By now, there have been no serious actions to resume the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Recent months have witnessed an wave of violent tension between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

The Quartet is a diplomatic group comprising the United Nations, Russia, the United States and the European Union in search of the two-state solution, which means a secure Israel to live in peace with an independent State of Palestine.

Turning to the reconstruction of Gaza, Mladenov said that since the end of hostilities in 2014, the United Nations engaged both sides in putting together a mechanism to allow the import of building materials.

This has begun to see visible results. Now 100,000 families have access to construction materials to repair and rebuild their homes, and 9,000 jobs have been created.

It is now vital to move forward with key infrastructure projects, namely those related to access to fresh water and electricity, he said.

Efforts must continue to remove Gaza blockages imposed by Israel in order to allow imports and exports so that economic activities can restart in the strip.

He noted, however, that only 35 percent of the 3.5 billion U.S. dollars pledged at the 2014 Cairo conference has been disbursed, urging donors to make good on their commitment.

Mladenov said that he will brief the UN Security Council on Thursday on the situation in the Middle East and hold an informal consultation with member states on the reconstruction of Gaza. Endit