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17:05 GMT
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 23 (KUNA) -- The UN on Tuesday said the continued
diplomatic impasse since the Israeli moratorium on settlement construction
ended late September is "worrying," and described the need to return to direct
talks between Israelis and Palestinians as "crucially important."
Addressing the Security Council in its monthly briefing on the situation in
the Middle East, Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe
said the US efforts to re-start negotiations have reached a "critical phase."
It is "essential," he added, that both Israeli and Palestinian leaderships
engage "seriously and make substantive progress quickly once the talks resume,
" with a view to resolve all permanent status issues.
"We call on Israel to fulfill its Roadmap obligation to freeze illegal
settlement construction and not to implement plans for additional settlement
units," he urged.
Pascoe mentioned, but did not comment on, the Knesset decision yesterday to
hold a national referendum to approve the return of any occupied land in East
Jerusalem or Syrian Golan Heights in the context of any political settlement.
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