Courage needed more than ever.

• Author: Taylor, Russell
• Position: Peace Watch

Reacting to a speech on 24 June by United States President George Bush, Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the President's reaffirmation that the outcome of the Middle East peace process should be the establishment of a viable and credible State of Palestine-based on Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973)--and security for Israel. In a statement, Mr Annan urged Israelis and Palestinians to "muster the courage and political will to make it possible within three years to replace the Israeli occupation of 1967 by a negotiated settlement with two States living side by side in peace and security".

Repeating his long-standing position that "there is no military solution to the conflict", he warned that with the situation on the ground eroding by the day, the international community must work swiftly with the parties to restart a political process that will lead to the realization of such an outcome. The Secretary-General looked forward to continuing consultations with the UN partners in the Quartet--European Union, Russian Federation and United States--and with the parties and key regional actors "to determine the next steps towards achieving this".

The Secretary-General on 5 June condemned a bomb attack in northern Israel. The "brutal and wilful killing of innocent civilians can never be justified, no matter what the political objective", Mr. Annan said, adding that "the enemies of peace should not be allowed to derail this process".

On 22 May, responding to the latest suicide bombing against Israeli citizens, Terje Roed-Larsen, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, stressed that terrorist attacks from any quarter were unacceptable and could not be tolerated by the international community. He had beenattending the meeting in Ramallah that brought together senior representatives of the Quartet for a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. They had come to offer full support to the reform initiatives undertaken by President Arafat, along with those proposed by the Palestinian Legislative Council. Mr. Roed-Larsen said "these reforms proposed by...