Palestinian envoy pushes for new UN efforts, ‘collective approach’

Palestinian officials said they want to “keep the hope alive and keep the two-state solution alive” through new efforts at the United Nations.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian envoy to the UN, said Friday, “We will not accept that the year 2016 is a year when we cannot do anything,” Agence France Press reported.

Mansour said the Iran nuclear deal and progress on the Syrian peace track point to a need for a “collective approach” to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, words similar to a statement earlier in the day by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Mansour predicted that violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories will probably worsen in the absence of diplomatic efforts.

The Palestinian envoy said he may push for a resolution condemning Israel’s expansion of Israeli settlements, but said a broader plan is necessary, such as sending international observers to the region or convening an international peace conference, AFP reported.