Ban Says Israel-Palestinian Peace Process on 'Life Support'
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon warned Thursday ahead of key vote on U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state that the Middle East peace process is on "life support".
But he told a U.N. meeting that only "direct negotiations" between the Palestinians and Israelis can lead to a permanent settlement.
Ban called on the Israeli and Palestinian leaders "to breathe new life into the peace process which is now on life support" because of the negotiations deadlock between the rivals.
"What is needed now is political will and courage. Leaders must show a historic sense of responsibility and vision. Israelis and Palestinians must break out of the zero-sum mentality," Ban told a meeting on Palestinian rights
The U.N. General Assembly will vote later Thursday on a resolution granting Palestine observer state membership of the U.N. It is certain to win despite opposition from the United States and Israel.
Ban noted that the General Assembly vote comes 65 years to the day after the assembly voted a resolution on the division of the Palestinian territories into a two-state solution that "remains tragically unfulfilled".
29 November 2012, 19:17
01
If he really feels that way, then he should immediatetly tell Abbas and Netanyahu that he will be starting Peace Talks in a closed off venue next week, and they will go on until a Peace Treaty is signed.
That way the whole world will know which of them, if either, refuses to go and thus is not interested in peace.
29 November 2012, 21:49
00
It does not matter what we think, type, or feel. Both sides need to communicate directly. Israel will have to be acceptable of a divided Jerusalem and 1967 borders. The Pals will have to give up the right to return. Those are the tough choices that lie ahead for each to swallow at the table of negotiations.
29 November 2012, 22:18
00
if Hamas and Abbas united themselves, they will be stronger and able to properly finish these negotiations. This is the time, NOW. Not in another 10 years. Israel doesn't care, because the Palestinians are weaker while divided. The Arabs have been divided for years and years, so that's why they are powerless.
