United Nations officials have stressed the need to get the Israeli-Palestinian peace process back on track, saying that the solution to the conflict slipped amid recent events.
The officials, who spoke during the UN Security Council session at the UN Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, noted a resumption of meaningful talks was needed more than ever.
Direct negotiation between the two sides was yet to resume since talks stalled in September 2010, after Israel refused to extend its freeze on settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Last month witnessed another cycle of violence in Gaza and Israel, as well as the granting by the UN General Assembly of non-member observer state status for Palestine at the UN. Following the Assembly?s action, the Israeli Government announced it would approve plans for settlement construction of 3,000 housing units in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
It also indicated that planning would proceed on several thousand housing units in an area of the West Bank between Jerusalem and the settlement of Maale Adumim. UN scribe, Ban Ki-moon, noted that the two sides seem more polarised than ever.
?While bombs and rockets have stopped falling in Gaza and Israel, it has become clearer than ever that peace must be more than the absence of war,? he said.
