Paris _ Palestine News Network
France warned on Monday that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would become a religious conflict, unless it takes into account "international barometers and the status of the city of Jerusalem."
"Any political settlement of the conflict must be based on a fair assessment of the facts on the ground," said Washington at the UN Security Council´s regular session on the Palestinian issue, held at UN headquarters in New York.
The French Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador François Deller, said in his statement that "the dissolution of the Palestinian and Israeli states faces a great danger as a result of fragmentation, the dismemberment of the Palestinian land and the despair that hangs over the Palestinian people," warning of the "political vacuum in the region ".
"We have no alternative but a two-state solution, and we all have to emphasize this, and we must work to fill the political vacuum in the region," he said.
"Any settlement peace plan should take into account international barometers, which is not an option but a must for any peace plan," he said. We must also take into account the status of Jerusalem, otherwise the conflict will turn into a religious and sectarian conflict. "
"The settlement of the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel must be based on a clear, fair and complete assessment of the facts on the ground," said Nikki Healy, the Washington Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
She considered, "not every one of them can get everything he wants" from this settlement.
In return, Healy launched a severe attack on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and blamed it for escalating violence in recent days.
"If you accept Hamas´s excuse that it fired its rockets in response to an Israeli undercover operation, it is not possible to escape the fact that Gaza militants targeted civilians in response," she said. Their actions were not acts of a State exercising self-defence, but indeed of a terrorist group. "
"Yes, Israel launched air raids on military positions, weapons depots and intelligence assets in Gaza, in response to more than 400 rockets and mortar shells fired indiscriminately from Gaza into Israel."
Healy also launched a sharp attack on Iran, saying that "the group responsible for rocket attacks against Israel is the Islamic Jihad, a group supported by Iran, and its terrorist agent to fuel violence and instability in the region."
She criticized what she termed "ignoring the UN Security Council for other extremely serious conflicts in the Middle East," because of its focus on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"Our administration has long come to the conclusion that there is still much to be done if there is any chance to urge the Iranian Government to join the community of peaceful states that abide by the law."
