UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations envoy on Middle East peace has warned that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could become a religious conflict that could ultimately engulf the rest of the region.

While recognising that Israelis and Palestinians fortunately “have not succumbed to the torrent of violent upheaval that has engulfed the region in recent years,” Nickolay Mladenov, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, nevertheless told an open-debate in the UN Security Council: “For nearly a century, despite myriad peace efforts, one conflict has evaded solution.”

These developments “demonstrated the grave risk of dangerous escalation that exists, a risk of turning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a religious one and dragging both sides into the vortex of violence with the rest of the region,” Mr. Mladenov said, stressing the need for all parties to show restraint and promptly end this crisis.

Noting that the final status issue concerning Jerusalem needs to be negotiated and decided by the two sides, he urged Israel to uphold its obligations under international human rights law. He also urged Palestinian leaders to avoid provocative statements that further aggravate an already tense environment.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2017