UN calls for Palestinian state, Israel bites back

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Tue, 12 May 2009 05:35:41 GMT

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The US ambassador to the meeting said the White House would fully and unequivocally support the push toward a two-state solution. “We share a sense of urgency. This is a moment that should not be lost,” she said.

As the world grows wary of the dormant Middle East peace process, Israel comes under pressure to commit to establishing an independent Palestinian state.

In a Monday meeting convened to discuss measures to breathe new life into the much-delayed Middle East peace talks, the UN Security Council adopted a non-binding statement calling for “vigorous diplomatic” action to reach an overall settlement and a two-state solution.

“The council reiterates its call for renewed and urgent efforts by the parties and the international community to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on the vision of a region where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, will live side by side in peace, within secure and recognized borders,” reads the statement.

Israel, which was not allowed participation in the council’s debate, objected to the meeting and argued that UN Security Council efforts would not contribute to the political process in the Middle East.

“This process should be bilateral and left to the parties themselves,” Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev said in a statement.

The push for reconciliation by the UN Security Council was followed by warnings from every speaker about more violence in the region should the two sides fail to renew negotiations.

The warning came in line with remarks the Jordanian monarch, King Abdullah II, made in an interview with The Times of UK to which he said that any further delays in peace talks would cause the world to be “sucked into another conflict.”

The call by the UN Security Council comes just days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes a trip to Washington where the stalled Middle East peace process tops the agenda of talks.

Peace negotiations have stopped since Israel launched its devastating attack on Gaza in December and killed at least 1,350 natives of the land.

The administration of US President Barack Obama also pledged commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the creation of “an independent, viable Palestinian state.”

“The United States is fully and unequivocally committed to working for a two-state solution,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told reporters after the UN meeting. “We share a sense of urgency. This is a moment that should not be lost.”

While former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert claimed to be willing to work toward an independent Palestinian state, his right-leaning successor — Benajamin Netanyahu — has expressed misgivings about the establishment of a separate Palestinian state.

The hawkish Israeli premier has argued that turning over land to the Palestinians would only endanger Israel.

The call by the UN on Israel comes as earlier in March, Netanyahu played down the notion of any friction with the Obama administration over his policy toward the Middle East peace process and expressed doubt over the existence of any “pressure from the United States”.

“I think you are talking about something that I doubt existed for any length of time in the past and which I am convinced does not exist today,” Netanyahu said.

CS/AA