PRESS STATEMENT ON MIDDLE EAST SITUATION BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

PRESS STATEMENT ON MIDDLE EAST SITUATION BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

Following is the text of this evening’s press statement on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestine question, by Security Council President Jagdish Koonjul (Mauritius):

Earlier this month, members of the Council had decided on the need for regular briefings on the developments regarding the situation in the Middle East.  This afternoon, members of the Council heard the first such briefing from the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative and Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen.

Members of the Security Council were increasingly concerned at the unprecedented levels of violence and the steadily worsening situation in the Middle East.  They deplored the loss of life and suffering of the civilian populations on all sides.

Members of the Council stressed that the destructive and dangerous cycle of violence should be immediately stopped.

Members of the Council also stressed that there could be no military solution and that violence would only create more violence.  The only way forward was in the return to dialogue and negotiation.  Members of the Council called on both parties to resume negotiations and to work for a just, lasting and comprehensive settlement in the Middle East, based on resolutions 242 and 338 and the Madrid Principles.

In endorsing their earlier statements on the Middle East, members of the Council recalled that Israel and the Palestinian Authority have accepted the Tenet Security Plan and the Mitchell Committee Report.

Members of the Council strongly supported the efforts of the Secretary-General and those of his Personal Representative and Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen, to help the parties move forward.  They also welcomed and encouraged sustained engagement by the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, the Russian Federation, Norway, China and other countries involved in the peace process.

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