Redouble efforts to achieve durable ceasefire in Gaza: UN envoy

A top UN envoy to the Middle East has asked the international community to redouble its efforts to help achieve a permanent and durable ceasefire in Gaza, said that anything less is unsustainable and could lead to more violence.
    
"One month since unilateral ceasefires were declared, a proper ceasefire regime is still not in place, and there is an ever present danger of a return to the unsustainable conditions of last year, or even for renewed and more devastating violence," Robert Serry, UN special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said during a Security Council meeting on Wednesday.
    
Israel's three-week offensive in Gaza, launched with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks against it, is estimated to have killed some 1,300 Palestinians and injured more than 5,300 others, in addition to widespread damage and destruction.
    
The fighting ended with declarations of unilateral ceasefires and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
    
Serry noted that since the end of major hostilities, "irresponsible" and "unacceptable" attacks have continued from both sides. "We are dangerously close to the previous situation, which we know has proven to be unsustainable," he said after the meeting.

"If it comes to that, we need to redouble our efforts... because we all want a changed dynamic in Gaza. For that, we don't need only a ceasefire but we also need to address all the other underlying issues which have bedeviled us for so long in Gaza."
    
The issues include exchange of Palestinian prisoners for the release of Israeli captive Gilad Shalit, the end to weapons smuggling to Gaza, and the full re-opening of all crossing points.
    
In the past few weeks, a daily average of 146 truckloads entered Gaza – four times what entered Gaza in December 2008 but only a third of what entered in May 2007. As a result, Gaza's 1.4 million residents remain "desperately" short of vital supplies, he noted.
    
"While we appreciate Israel's stated readiness to address humanitarian needs, we have not yet seen truly open crossings for required access, which is so crucial given the extent of the needs in Gaza," Serry told the Council.

In addition to the severe humanitarian, economic and political repercussions of the Gaza crisis, the Special Coordinator outlined several other issues that need to be addressed to advance peace during what he described as a "formative moment for the future of the Middle East."
    
These include continued Palestinian divisions; a new political situation in Israel – where last week's election produced no clear winner; and unmet obligations under the Road Map peace plan, especially regarding settlements.
    
"The challenges are daunting, but peace can prevail, and it must," Serry stressed. "In the year ahead, the international community will need to be united and determined, and intensify its efforts."