UN leader Ban Ki-moon called on Tuesday for "goodwill gestures" by Israel to encourage the Palestinians to revive the Middle East peace process, ahead of talks with leaders from the two sides. Speaking after meeting with Jordanian leaders, Ban did not say what the gestures were, but he has been an outspoken critic of Israel's increased settlement in the occupied territories, which the Palestinians blame for the latest peace impasse.
Ban held separate talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh before he goes on Wednesday to meet with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah. He praised Jordan for hosting five sets of preliminary talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators this month. "This momentum created after two years should be sustained," Ban told a press conference after his talks with Judeh. "Both sides should return to the dialogue table with a sense of strong political will and courage," he added.
The UN secretary general stressed the need for "the Israeli government to take some goodwill gestures so that these meetings can continue. Of course this will also require the Palestinian authorities to come to the dialogue table. "That is what I am going to discuss with Israeli leaders and Palestinian Authority leaders." Direct talks have been frozen since September 2010, when the Palestinians pulled out after Israel's refusal to extend a moratorium on settlement building.