UN envoy calls on Security Council for Israel action

UNITED NATIONS — The UN's top Mideast envoy challenged the Security Council on Thursday to step up and lead the way to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying the international community should seriously consider presenting 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 settlement building, 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.

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 towards 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 United States 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.

France, another permanent council member, has said in recent days it is willing to revisit the idea of a Security Council resolution.

Diplomats on Thursday, however, said the United States expressed no hint of Obama’s stance during their statement in closed-door consultations after Serry’s public briefing.

The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters he agrees with Serry’s comments.

“We hope the Security Council will... take that responsibility very seriously,” Mansour said. He said he wants to see a resolution with a timeframe for ending the Israeli occupation and with terms of reference for the peace process.

But the Palestinian envoy asked whether “key players” on the council would allow such a resolution to go through, a reference to the United States.

Mansour also said Netanyahu does not support a two-state solution, “regardless of his backpedalling” on his comments.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor criticised the Palestinians for pursuing “empty resolutions” and insisted that his country’s bond with the United States is strong.