SECRETARY-GENERAL, APPALLED BY RECENT MIDDLE EAST VIOLENCE,

REITERATES CALL FOR END TO VIOLENCE AND TERROR

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General is appalled by the recent acts of violence in the Middle East that have pierced a period of relative calm.  He strongly reiterates the statement of the Quartet on 17 September calling for an end to violence and terror, and deploring and condemning such acts as morally repugnant.  He hopes that in the period after the two suicide attacks on Israelis and the bomb planted at a Palestinian school over the past three days, the parties will act with restraint.

The Secretary-General believes that only a comprehensive solution developed through a process that addresses political, security, humanitarian and economic issues in parallel can ensure real security for the parties.  The commitment of the parties to the roadmap agreed at the recent meeting of the Quartet, coupled with an effective Quartet-monitoring mechanism, remains the best path to that solution.

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