New York - The United Nations reiterated a call Tuesday for Israel to freeze all settlement activities in order to move forward the peace process with the Palestinians. Robert Serry, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said in Jerusalem that the UN considers Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' decision not to seek re-election as a "loud and wake-up call."
Serry said he talked to Abbas and conveyed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's "strong support for his leadership. But it is clear that this precious asset is now in jeopardy."
"I repeat the secretary general's call for a freeze on all settlement activity," Serry said. "Either we go forward decisively to a two-state solution in accordance with Security Council resolutions, or we risk sliding backwards."
The diplomatic quartet on the Middle East has called for the establishment of a Palestinian state living in peace next to Israel. A number of steps, in both security and politics, have to be achieved before the Palestinian state is achieved. The quartet is composed of the UN, the European Union, the United States and Russia.
