"Middle East peace process is in a deep freeze", UN chief says

Source:Xinhua Published: 2012-12-20 10:09:08

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon said Wednesday that "the Middle East peace process is in a deep freeze," urging Israel to "refrain from continuing on this dangerous path," including the efforts to halt plans for more settlement activities in occupied Palestinian territories.

While addressing a year-end press conference here, Ban said " The two sides seem more polarized than ever, and a two-state solution is farther away than any time since the Oslo peace process began."

The Oslo accords are the foundation on which peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians are based. Officially called the "Declaration of Principles," the accords were negotiated secretly by Israeli and Palestinian delegations in 1993 in Oslo, Norway, with guidance by Norwegian Foreign Minister Johan Jorgen Holst.

It was signed in a historic ceremony hosted by President Bill Clinton in Washington D.C. on Sept. 13, 1993, during which the chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Yasser Arafat, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin grasped hands in an uneasy, yet unforgettable handshake.



Posted in: Mid-East

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