Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the report by the quartet – the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations – “perpetuates the myth” that settlements were an obstacle to peace.
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France’s ambassador to the U.N., Franç ois Delattre, called the report “an important step in our collective efforts to save and promote the two states solution”. By now, there have been no serious actions to resume the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Israel therefore welcomes the Quartet’s recognition of the centrality of Palestinian incitement and violence to the perpetuation of the conflict”, the statement from his office read.
Israeli settlement construction and expansion “is steadily eroding the viability of the two-state solution”, the Quartet warned.
The report said Israel had taken for its exclusive use some 70 per cent of Area C, which makes up 60 per cent of the occupied West Bank and includes the majority of agricultural lands, natural resources and land reserves. The remaining 30 percent is effectively off-limits to Palestinian development because it requires virtually unobtainable Israeli military permits.
Local sources said Israeli warplanes launched rockets at two sites reportedly used by al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, in the southern part of Gaza City, and targeted missiles at five other locations allegedly used by al-Qassam Brigades and al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad.
“Palestinian frustration can not be wished away”, he said, adding that “neither will the violence and terror, fuelled by resentment, bring about a Palestinian state”.
Over the past nine months Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbings, shootings and attacks using cars against civilians and security forces, killing 34 Israelis and two visiting Americans.
Even officials from the more moderate Fatah faction, which is led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, have “publicly supported attacks and their perpetrators”.
“We call on him specifically here to condemn terrorist attacks”.
Portraying a sense of urgency in easing tensions, the official said the report isn’t aimed at finding confidence- building measures or ways to get back to the negotiating table. “It focuses on the major threats to achieving a negotiated peace and offers recommendations on the way forward”.
Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations special coordinator for the peace process, told reporters Thursday after briefing the Security Council on the report that it was not a “scorecard for assigning blame to each side”.
In an interview with AFP, Mladenov said he hoped the report would prompt both sides and world leaders to take action to revive the peace process.
In particular, the report calls on Israel to stop building settlements on Palestinian territory.
The Quartet also touched on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, stressing that 1.3 million Gazans are in need of sustained humanitarian assistance, including temporary shelter and food.
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The report said Palestinians who commit terrorist attacks are often glorified publicly as “heroic martyrs”. It argued that there are legitimate questions regarding the Israeli commitment to a two-state solution.
