UN chief faces stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts in first visit

JERUSALEM: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres met Israeli leaders yesterday on his first visit since taking office, with long-stalled peace efforts with the Palestinians and a United Nations force in Lebanon high on the agenda.

Guterres is likely to seek to push Israel and Palestinian leaders closer to renewed talks on their decades-old conflict during his three-day visit that ends Wednesday, but the interests of Israeli leaders lie elsewhere for now.

They have said they want to press Guterres on the UN peacekeeping force in neighbouring Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, accusing it of “blindness” to what they call an arms buildup by Hezbollah.

The trip comes as the UN Security Council debates renewing the force’s mandate for a year, with a vote expected on Wednesday.

After meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, Guterres is due in Ramallah today for talks with Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is visiting Turkey and is not expected to meet Guterres during the trip.

Guterres will then travel to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

After arriving on Sunday evening, the UN chief met Jason Greenblatt, a top aide to US President Donald Trump charged with pursuing Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

Greenblatt was part of a US delegation last week including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner that held talks with Netanyahu and Abbas. He remained in the region for further discussions.

Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister who took office in January, is likely to try to take steps to keep the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a viable option at a time when it is under threat.

Peace efforts have been at a standstill since April 2014 and Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank has continued.

Trump has said he wants to reach the ‘ultimate deal’ – Israeli-Palestinian peace – but he himself has cast doubt on the twostate solution, saying he could support a single state if it meant peace.

Such statements deeply concern Palestinians, while delighting right-wing Israelis who want their country to annex most of the West Bank. — AFP

Senior historian at the International Institute for Holocaust Research, David Silberklang (left), Guterres (centre) and Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations Danny Danon (right) look at pictures of Jewish Holocaust victims at the Hall...