UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has welcomed the beginning of indirect peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians under the mediation of the United States, his spokesman said.
Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) approved last week a U.S. proposal for indirect peace negotiations and the first round of talks is expected to start as early as in May.
"The Secretary-General is encouraged by the beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks. He commends the United States' initiative in this regard. The Secretary-General hopes that the parties are able to make progress and move towards direct negotiations," Martin Nesirky said in a statement posted on the UN website.
The so-called proximity talks mediated by the United States will involve the exchange of letters between PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The talks are expected to focus on such key issues as control of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, borders and Israel's West Bank settlements.
Israeli-Palestinian direct peace talks came to a halt in December 2008, when Israel launched an attack on the Gaza Strip in a bid to put an end to the firing of homemade rockets at southern Israel by Palestinian militants based in the enclave. The conflict left 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
Palestinians have so far cited ongoing Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, as a main obstacle to the peace process.
The foreign ministers of Arab countries promoting the Palestinian-Israeli settlement initiative supported the resumption of indirect talks under U.S. mediation during a meeting on May 1.
UN, May 11 (RIA Novosti)
