NEW YORK
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will discuss with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu "realistic options" for the resumption of stalled Palestinian peace talks, a UN spokesperson said Thursday.
Netanyahu barely met the deadline to form a new government Wednesday, signing a deal with the right-wing Jewish Home party.
The coalition deal will help Netanyahu's right-wing Likud Party obtain the 61 Knesset seats necessary for cobbling together a governing coalition.
"Once a new government has been sworn in, the Secretary-General will explore with Prime Minister Netanyahu realistic options for a return to meaningful negotiations on a two-state solution," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
The UN-proposed solution envisages the creation of an independent Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders, alongside Israel.
During the last days of his election campaign, Netanyahu said he would ditch the UN-proposed two-state model altogether if he were to be re-elected. He later backtracked on those comments.
On April 21, the UN chief warned that the very possibility of reaching a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was receding with potentially explosive consequences.
The latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed last April, as direct dialogue remains deadlocked amid Israel's unilateral settlement-building policies in occupied lands and Palestinians’ efforts on international recognition of their statehood
Dujarric also said that Ban was "deeply concerned by recent announcements by Israeli authorities of plans for 900 settlement units in East Jerusalem which are illegal under international law."
International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and deems any construction of Jewish settlements on the land to be illegal.
