United Nations, Nov 20: With a new Palestinian Prime Minister in place, all parties involved in peace-building between Israelis and Palestinians should recommit themselves to the process and leave behind the inaction of the past months, a senior UN official has told the Security Council. Giving his assessment of developments in the Middle East yesterday, Under-Secretary-General for political affairs Kieran Prendergast said new Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei would be expected "to take immediate steps to establish law and order, control violence and start operations to confront those who engage in terror."

"We hear talk here and there of a possible meeting between the two prime ministers and of another ceasefire," he said. "These tender shoots need nourishing. The peace process cannot be allowed to remain stalled."

Despite the positive actions recommended by the "road map" to peace -a process cosponsored by the UN, EU, US and the Russian federation - terrorism threatened each Israeli, Prendergast said.
Israeli military and settlement operations as well as its construction of a separation barrier, caused Palestinian suffering, he added.
Both sides had done little to address the situation and both should be judged by their performance, he told the council, urging the Israeli government and the Palestinian authority to shoulder their obligations.
"The period of inertia, excuses and conditionality in Middle East peacemaking must end," he said.

Bureau Report