India urges Israel, Palestine to show flexibility

NEW YORK: Manjeev Singh Puri, acting permanent representative of India to the UN, said here Thursday that both Israel and Palestine must prove determined and willing to compromise if a solution to their decades-long conflict is to be achieved.

“We all owe to the future generations that they do not remain mired in this conflict,” Puri said. “We, therefore, reiterate our call to both sides to show spirit of flexibility, compromise and political will to reach there.”

Puri’s statements came as the UN Security Council held an open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

He said that the only way that a lasting solution to the problem can be created is through direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine.

“To that end, we hope, parties will restart talks without further delay,” he said.

“Our expectation is that these talks would lead to a final and comprehensive resolution of the Middle East conflict, which has mired several generations in the region.”

Israeli and Palestinian peace talks have been stalled since September after the Israeli government failed to renew a ban on settlement building.

Puri said that India believes reinstating the settlement freeze would be helpful.

“We concur with the sense of the international community that freezing of settlement activity in the Palestinian territories could enable the peace talks to resume,” he said.

However, Puri stated that the main reason why peace talks have not yet been successfully resumed between the parties is “lack of mutual trust” between them. UN, Friday, Xinhua