By Xinhua
United Nations : A new push for peace in the Middle East is being made and holds genuine promise, UN Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe told the Security Council Thursday.
In his monthly briefing to council members on the situation in the Middle East, Pascoe said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas continued their bilateral dialogue and had agreed to set up negotiating teams to assist them in transforming their discussions into an agreed text.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in the region. The Mideast Quartet’s representative, Tony Blair, had recently completed his second visit to the region to develop his agenda on economic revival and institutional reform.
Besides, the upcoming meeting of the diplomatic Quartet at the UN Headquarters this Sunday, followed by meetings with a number of members of the Arab League, would provide an opportunity to advance the cause of a comprehensive regional peace, he said.
The united effort of the international community would be vital to ensuring that the renewed diplomatic effort produced something meaningful and durable, Pascoe said.
But the UN political chief voiced deep concerns over the situation on the ground, saying that violence among Palestinians and between Israelis and Palestinians had continued.
The continued division of the occupied Palestinian Territory was a matter of deep political, security and socio-economic concern, he said.
The decision made Wednesday by the Israeli Security Cabinet to declare Gaza an “enemy entity,” if implemented, would violate Israel’s obligations toward the civilian population under international humanitarian and human rights law, he said.
The 1.4 million people in Gaza should not be punished for the unacceptable actions of militants and extremists, he added.