UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The last month has seen a period of heightened levels of instability and suffering in the Middle East, U.N. Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari Thursday told the Security Council.
At the same time, he said visits to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and European Union High Representative Javier Solana have demonstrated a renewed sense of urgency to find a political way forward.
This was further underlined by the proposed meeting of the diplomatic Quartet of the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States, now set for Feb. 2 in Washington and a possible early tripartite meeting of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Rice.
Gambari was also encouraged by reports Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni would meet Abbas on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council have also been engaged in the search for a renewed and credible dialogue towards a resolution of the Middle East problem.
Underscoring the "clear priority" of a resumed political process between Israel and the Palestinians, the undersecretary-general told the panel of 15 Thursday that solutions were urgently needed also to the political impasses among the Palestinians and in Lebanon.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had encouraged leaders to overcome their difficulties and move forward in the best interests of their people.
"None of us can afford another year like the last one in Lebanon and the Middle East," Gambari said. "The secretary-general encourages the two leaders to build on their progress to date by implementing agreements and by starting to address the fundamental issues of the conflict."
The government of Syria had called publicly for resumed negotiations with Israel and Israeli newspapers Jan. 16 published understandings for a peace agreement between the two countries, arrived at through a private initiative. However, both governments strongly denied any official connection.
While Gambari read his statement to council members sedately seated around the formal, horseshoe-shaped council table, the streets of Beirut were ablaze with burning debris by rioting rival Lebanese factions.
He said for many Lebanese the past had again begun to emerge, and they shared responsibility to resolve their political differences peacefully through the democratic process.
The secretary-general was attending Thursday's Paris conference called to gather funding for Lebanon's reconstruction following the summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah. Ban renewed his call to support Lebanon and he urged redoubled efforts by all sides to return to dialogue and break the paralyzing political impasse.
Gambari said the last two days of violence in Lebanon showed how easily political tensions could spill into violence, and threaten Lebanon's stability and security.
The undersecretary-general said the United Nations was in contact with all parties encouraging an early return to dialogue and supported continuing efforts, including those of the League of Arab States, to bring the leaders to compromise and consensus.
While the violence flared anew in Beirut, general stability had returned to southern Lebanon due to the deployment of the enhanced U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces, which continued to enjoy a high level of cooperation, he said.
While UNIFIL continued to maintain good relations with the Israel Defense Forces, the Jewish state's violations of Lebanese airspace continued, Gambari said. Also, civilians continued to be killed and injured by cluster munitions dropped on Lebanon during last year's conflict.
As Abbas and Olmert had been working hard to ease tensions and move towards resuming political dialogue, the cease-fire in Gaza, agreed to at the end of November, remained in place. Israeli officials said militants had fired more than 104 rockets into southern Israel in the past two months.
To its credit, the Israeli government had shown considerable restraint in the face of those attacks, Gambari said. However, the cease-fire had not been extended to the West Bank and operations to arrest or kill wanted Palestinians continued regularly, he said.
Since the last Middle East report to the council in December, the undersecretary-general said 28 Palestinians had been killed and more than 130 injured in Israeli military operations, while 10 Israelis had been injured by Palestinian militants.
Egypt continued to lead efforts for the release of the Israeli corporal captured last summer and of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, but they had yet to yield results, Gambari said.
Evolving Israeli-Palestinian dialogue was complicated by the internal political situation in both the Occupied Palestinian Territory, where factional tensions had risen to acute levels in mid-December and early January, and in Israel.
A total of 43 people were killed in Palestinian-on-Palestinian conflict during the reporting period, nearly double the number killed by Israeli military operations.
In Israel, political scandals and other developments underscored the coalition government's difficulties in forging and implementing a clear agenda, the undersecretary-general said, pointing out the Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff had resigned and an official inquiry into the conduct of last summer's conflict with Hezbollah continues.
