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UN insists PA and Israel must prevent Gaza collapse

May 21, 2015 at 11:50 am

The UN envoy to the Middle East, Nikolay Mladenov, said on Tuesday that both Israel and the Palestinian Authority must work to prevent the collapse of the besieged Gaza Strip.

“There is a clear moral and humanitarian imperative not just for the United Nations and the international community, but primarily for the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to prevent the implosion of Gaza,” Mladenov told the UN Security Council. “Gaza is desperate and angry.”

The envoy called on Israel to freeze settlement activity and urged the new government to reverse decisions on three recent tenders for new construction in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He added that he and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be engaging the new government to explore realistic options for a return to meaningful negotiations towards a two-state solution “within a reasonable timeframe”.