UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Monday called for "urgent efforts" to create a separate Palestinian state and achieve an overall Mideast peace settlement.
In a statement by all 15 members read at the end of an open ministerial meeting, the council stressed that "vigorous diplomatic" action was needed to reach an overall settlement and a two-state solution. It encouraged the Quartet of Mideast peacemakers — the U.N., the U.S., Russia and the European Union — to continue their efforts to promote a comprehensive Mideast settlement.
"The council reiterates its call for renewed and urgent efforts by the parties and the international community to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on the vision of a region where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, will live side by side in peace, within secure and recognized borders," the statement said.
Speaker after speaker at the meeting of the Security Council warned of more violence unless efforts are made to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, reconcile the divided Palestinian factions, and renew talks between Israel and Syria.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev objected to the meeting, saying Israel doesn't believe the involvement of the Security Council contributes to the political process in the Middle East.
"This process should be bilateral and left to the parties themselves," Shalev said in a statement. "Furthermore, the timing of this Security Council meeting is inappropriate as the Israeli government is in the midst of conducting a policy review, prior to next week's visit by Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu to the United States."
But Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia, which holds the council presidency this month and organized the meeting, stressed the importance of a rapid resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and of international involvement in the process. U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice echoed his words.
"This is a moment that should not be lost and that is why the United States and others are redoubling our efforts to achieve a lasting two-state solution," she said, adding that the U.S. also welcomed peace initiatives from the Arab world.
While Israel's previous government, led by Prime Minster Ehud Olmert, was committed to the goal of Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peaceful independent states — as called for in several Security Council resolutions — his hawkish successor, Netanyahu, has expressed misgivings about an independent Palestinian state.
In the month since he became prime minister, Netanyahu has pointed to Hamas' takeover of Gaza as a precedent and warned that turning over land to the Palestinians can bring violent extremists to power and endanger Israel.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner deplored the lack of progress in the region so far, as evidenced by the continuing blockade in humanitarian aid for Gazans and the impossible conditions for reconstruction there.
"There is no lasting cease-fire there and rocket launches continue," Kouchner said. "For us the window of opportunity is one that can be calculated in terms of months, not years."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that violence and terror will not bring Israel security, "and no two state solution can be reached if the situation between Gaza and southern Israel continues on its present destructive course, or if Palestinians remain permanently divided," he said.
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