The Palestinians and the Israelis must resume peace talks as soon as possible. For this the two sides must take decisive steps, aimed at honouring their commitments. Such is the conclusion of the report the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry made at the session of the UN Security Council on December 17th.
The diplomat says that the results of the outgoing year regarding the Middle East settlement are not comforting. The confidence level between the parties concerned is still very low. Tension remains in Jerusalem, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic, and the Israeli-Palestinian talks remain suspended. And even what might seem to be a progressive step of the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who decided to suspend the construction of settlements on the West Bank, to be more exact, in Judea and Samaria for a 10-month period, produced actually no effect on the peace process. The temporary moratorium does not spread to East Jerusalem. This means that Israel has not come close to realizing the "road map" plan that was worked out by the 4 international mediators.
Palestine accuses Israel, saying that it has failed to honour its commitments under the "road map" plan. For its part, official Tel Aviv makes its claims to Palestine, stressing among other things that taking into account its political instability, serious talks are impossible.
Meanwhile, nobody doubts that the two sides must resume their talks. The situation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains serious enough, and Robert Serry called the attention of the members of the UN Security Council to the fact that to achieve progress in the Middle East settlement next year is top priority. Expert on the Middle East Vladimir Morozov has a similar opinion. He even admits the strengthening of pressure on Israel and Palestine, in order to force them not only to resume their talks but also to honour their commitments:
"The Palestinian-Israeli peace process has reached a deadlock. I believe that the world community must concentrate on the Middle East settlement. The parties concerned must sit down at the negotiating table and, with the participation of the Quartet of Mediators, including Russia, the USA, the European Union, and the United Nations, to come to intermediate decisions. Since it is absolutely clear that talking tete-a-tete, the Israelis and the Palestinians will reach no agreement at all".
A few days ago the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a similar statement. He urged the world community and the Quartet of mediators in particular, to make more efforts for the resumption of peace talks on the Middle East. Russia is hopeful that positive steps on that score will be achieved at the conference on the Middle East, which is planned in Moscow for a later date. The preparation and the convocation of this conference are hampered by Israel's and Palestine's non-readiness to reach a compromise.
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