United Nations: The UN’s top Middle East envoy challenged the Security Council on Thursday to lead the way to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, suggesting it should present a framework for negotiations that “may be the only way to preserve the goal of a two-state solution.”
Robert Serry, in his final briefing to the council, also sharply criticised Israel’s illegal building of settlements in Palestinian territories, saying it “may kill the very possibility of reaching peace on the paradigm of two states for two peoples.”
“I frankly do not know if it is already too late,” Serry said.
The UN envoy spoke a day after Israel’s prime minister was officially chosen to form a new government following an acrimonious election campaign.
US President Barack Obama has been clear this week about his impatience with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments shortly before the Israeli elections that he would not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state on his watch.
Netanyahu has struck a conciliatory tone since the elections. But Obama has said he will reassess US policy toward Israel after Netanyahu’s remarks, meaning that the Security Council could be a potential place to take action on the decades-long conflict.
The council has long been blocked from taking action on the crisis, as US is a top Israeli ally whose veto power as a permanent council member has been used to protect Israel for years. In late December, the council rejected a Palestinian resolution demanding an end to Israeli occupation within three years.
