Israel must display vision and seize the current window of opportunity to resume negotiations on a final peace treaty with the Palestinians before it closes, United Nations Middle East envoy Robert Serry said on Friday. US President Barack Obama took office in January and "from day one" made a Middle East peace deal a priority, Serry said. Despite hard going so far Obama is not giving up, and he has full European Union, Russian and United Nations backing.
"I am pessimistic that another such opportunity would come anytime soon," the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told Reuters in an interview from his Jerusalem office. "The window is closing down ... we should not believe time is on our side."
"The parties, deep down, know what it takes. They need the political will," the envoy said. "Frankly I don't see urgency on the Israeli side. I would like to see more commitment."
"If Israel has a sense of urgency and finality it will live up to its commitments," Serry said. To those Israelis who believe the status quo is acceptable, he said: "I do not agree."
It is obvious, Serry added, that there is no point in "talks for the sake of it". The negotiations must have "a credible political horizon", with two-state solution at the end.
They must resume where they left off with the last Israeli government in late 2008, and not start from scratch while the new Israeli government continues to permit the building of settlements on occupied West Bank land, he said.
Source: YNet
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