UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon left yesterday for a tour of Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon to voice support for efforts to re-energize the Middle East peace process. Ban s first stop on the 11-day tour will be Egypt, followed by the Palestinian territories, Israel and Jordan. He is then to attend the Arab League summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, before traveling to Lebanon. He will be back at UN headquarters in New York on Monday. Ban aides said that the secretary general s main priorities during the trip would be the Middle East peace process, efforts to end the four-month political crisis in Lebanon and Sudan s Darfur region, and the UN role in the Iraq Compact for economic development. Ban sees a renewed dynamism in diplomacy in the Arab world and wants to express his support to ongoing efforts to re-energize the Middle East peace process during his attendance at the Riyadh summit, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said Monday. The following day Montas clarified remarks made by Ban in an interview with the Voice of America that he had found reports coming from the Palestinian government disappointing after a new Fatah-Hamas coalition declared its right to all forms of resistance. The secretary general views establishment of the new government of Palestine as a positive step forward and he wants to encourage that process, the spokeswoman said.
At the same he expresses disappointment because he would like to see the program of the national unity government fully reflect Quartet principles. She added that the UN chief would be watching very carefully the new government s actions and hopes to see further positive movements.
Wednesday Ban joined his partners in the so-called Mideast Quartet – the US, Russia, and the European Union – in reaffirming that the government led by the radical Islamic group Hamas must formally renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept past accords with the Jewish state. But in an apparent gesture to moderates who have joined the government under a deal between Hamas and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, the Quartet said the new leadership would not be judged solely on its composition and platform, but also its actions . The statement, issued after two days of deliberations, was signed by Ban, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, EU external relations commissioner Benita Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, the current EU president. The Quartet has imposed a devastating aid and diplomatic boycott on the Palestinian government since Hamas gained control after defeating Fatah in elections early last year. But Russia and some European leaders want to ease the isolation of the new Palestinian government, in which Hamas holds the prime ministership and 11 other portfolios while Fatah and independents control 13. Ban was to meet Rice in Jerusalem Sunday, UN officials said.
The top US diplomat was due to leave Friday for her own Middle East tour during which she was to hold separate talks with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose government has ruled out any dealings with the new Palestinian government.
