国际英语新闻："Middle East peace talks should move forward intensively," UN chief says

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-general Ban Ki- moon on Wednesday said that the Middle East peace negotiations " should move forward intensively," and avoid "talks for the sake of talks."

"Negotiations should move forward intensively, focused on resolving core issues, not talks for the sake of talks," the secretary-general said at his monthly press conference.

"I urged Israel to restore settlement restraint under its Road Map obligations," he said. "I urge Arab leaders meeting in Sirte this week to keep doors open and support (Palestinian) President ( Mahmoud) Abbas."

Ban made the statement as the Middle East peace talks are deadlocked over the issue of Jewish settlement, which, under the international law, is illegal as the settlement buildings are erected in the occupied territory.

Under the U.S. auspices, the Palestinians and Israelis held their first round of direct peace talks in 17 months in Washington in early September. However, the Israelis took no action to extend the 10-month freeze on the settlement construction in the occupied territory, prompting the Palestinians to drop out of the peace talks.

On Sunday, Abbas insisted that Israel should freeze settlement building before he returns to peace talks.

"On the Middle East, we had a timely meeting of the Quartet together with the League of Arab States Follow-up Committee members," Ban said.

"In recent days, I have spoken with principal players on each side, including Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu of Israel and President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, as well as U.S. special envoy George Mitchell," he said. "All told me that they were committed to finding solutions to the problems immediately before us. All want to keep the peace process going."

The United Nations, together with the European Union, Russia and the United States, makes up the Middle East Quartet, a diplomatic group in search of the two-state solution -- a secure Israel to live in peace with an independent Palestinian State.