NEW YORK, February 25, 2011 (WAFA) – United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry Thursday urged  the quartet to play bigger role in  resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Addressing the Security Council in his monthly briefing on the situation in the Middle East, which covered the past 30 days, Serry said that “the parties are unlikely to overcome the deficit of trust without a credible and effective international intervention in the peace process.”

He said, “In our view, it is becoming increasingly clear that more concrete parameters are needed to lay out a basis for the parties to engage. The quartet must play its full role in this regard.”

Serry said the quartet, which in addition to the UN includes the United States, the European Union and Russia, will hold separate talks with the Palestinians and Israel before its next Principal meeting in March.

“In its discussions with the parties, the quartet will give serious consideration to their views on how to bring about resumed negotiations on all core issues, including borders and security,” he said.

The Palestinians said they will not resume negotiations before Israel stops all settlement activities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

However, Serry told the meeting that Israel continues to build some 2,000 units begun in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including 56 new units in Ramot, and 13 units in the heart of the Palestinian neighborhood Sheikh Jarrah, after the moratorium expired on 26 September.

The Israeli authorities also demolished 66 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing over 100 people and otherwise affecting another 220 during the reporting period, he said.

Serry criticized Israeli incursions into Palestinian-controlled territories.

“The presence and operations of Israel’s security forces within Palestinian population centers, which are meant to be under Palestinian security control, is a major concern,” he said.

In the past month alone, there were 434 incursions which resulted in one Palestinian killed, 96 injured and 379 arrested.

In addition, he said, Israel conducted 10 incursions and four air strikes into Gaza in the past 30 days in which two Palestinians were killed and 28 injured.

Serry described Prime Minister Salam Fayyad initiative to form a government of national unity based on the principle of non-violence as “a first step to advance reconciliation.”

“I urge all Palestinian factions to show responsibility and heed the legitimate calls of the Palestinian people for reunification,” he said.

M.A.