Ban Ki-moon calls for creative approaches to promoting Middle East peace

Warning that recent violence has set back the Middle East peace process, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged media professionals and civil society representatives attending a United Nations-organized seminar in Tokyo to “explore creative approaches to spreading the message of peace and coexistence in these troubled times.”

“You meet at a very critical time,” Mr. Ban said in a message delivered by Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyo Akasaka to the International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East.

“After years of occupation, violence and mistrust, Israeli and Palestinian societies stand further apart than ever before,” the Secretary-General lamented, adding “alarming rifts have also surfaced in internal Palestinian politics, as armed clashes between rival factions spread death and destruction across the Gaza Strip.”

The current outbreak of violence, while a cause for great dismay, should not lead to despair, Mr. Ban told some 100 participants attending the two-day event, organized by the UN in cooperation with Japan’s Foreign Ministry and the Tokyo-based UN University. Instead, it should serve to focus attention on finding a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

“We must take heart from the numerous opinion polls of recent years that point to consistently strong grassroots support in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories for peaceful coexistence within the framework of a two-State solution.”

In his keynote address to the meeting, Michael Williams, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, urged participants not to despair amid the current state of affairs. “We must instead look at what can be done to change current dynamics and channel energies in a more positive direction.”

To that end, the UN was working overtime to help address the serious humanitarian concerns emanating from the closure of the Gaza Strip, Mr. Williams added, in a message read out by UN University Rector Hans Van Ginkel. Reopening the crossings into Gaza required cooperation of all parties, and in that effort, the humanitarian imperative must be paramount, he stressed.

The annual seminar focuses on ways to re-engage Israelis and Palestinians in the search for a comprehensive and lasting political settlement. Participating in this year’s gathering are two members of the Knesset, Ronit Tirosh and Avishai Braverman, the Mayors of Ashdod and Hadera and a former Mayor of Ashkelon.

Palestinian participants include a former Minister of Culture, Almutawakel Nazzal, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, and the Mayor of Ramallah.