Key UN nations call for Palestinian state
UN Security Council convenes meeting on Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reaffirms it support for two-state solution. Sec.-Gen Ban calls on Israel to change policy on settlements
Russia, the US and key UN nations are urging stepped-up efforts to create a Palestinian state that would exist peacefully alongside Israel and an overall Mideast peace settlement.
Speakers at Monday's meeting of the UN Security Council noted the challenges ahead but warned of renewed violence unless sustained efforts are made to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, reconcile the divided Palestinian factions, and renew talks between Israel and Syria
Earlier, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel to change its policy on settlements in the territories.
"The Palestinians continue to see unacceptable acts in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank... which are closely related to settlements," Ban said at the opening of a debate Security Council on relaunching the peace process in the Middle East.
"The time has come for Israel to fundamentally change its policy in this area as it has often promised but not yet done," he added.
The high-level meeting of the Security Council, Russia's initiative and chaired by its Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, must try to restore some semblance of momentum to the peace process in the Middle East who is stuck for months.
Meanwhile, the Israeli mission to the UN shunned the meeting, in protest of the assembly's president's intention to call for the immediate implementation to the two-state solution.
Gabriella Shalev, ambassador to the UN, said that "this decision derives from our fundamental stance, saying that the peace process involves only the two relevant parties, and that it is nor the council's place to intervene."
Yitzhak Benhorin, in Washington, contributed to this report
