By Patrick Worsnip
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Worsening conditions for peoplein the Palestinian territories and southern Israel risk fatallyundermining Middle East peace talks relaunched late last year,two senior U.N. officials said on Tuesday.
The talks meant little to Palestinians living under Israeliblockade in Gaza or Israelis under rocket fire from Palestinianmilitants, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes and Middle Eastenvoy Robert Serry told the Security Council.
Israeli-Palestinian talks aimed at creating a Palestinianstate alongside Israel were launched at a U.S.-sponsoredconference in Annapolis, Maryland in November. But the sidesremain divided on what any agreement should entail.
"The disconnect between (the) realities and the hopes andaims of the continuing peace talks seemed almost total," saidHolmes, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs,who visited the region last week.
"Unless this chasm is bridged quickly, and the humanitarianindicators begin to rise and create some sense of hope for thefuture, the chances of success for the peace talks may befatally undermined," Holmes said.
Israel has launched frequent air strikes and ground raidsinto Gaza in an attempt to halt militant rocket fire.
The militant group Hamas, which seized control of Gaza inJune, says it would cease fire if Israel stopped militaryoperations in Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas is also demandingan end to an Israeli-led blockade that has cut many supplies toGaza's 1.5 million people.
NEW STRATEGY
Serry told the Security Council that ordinary Israelis andPalestinians "understandably have little confidence that thepolitical process is delivering" and there was a "growing senseof disquiet" about it in the region.
"The Annapolis process can only be sustained by realchanges on the ground," Serry said in his first report since hewas appointed in November. U.S. President George W. Bush hascalled for an agreement this year.
Serry said the "quartet" of Middle East mediators -- theUnited Nations, United States, European Union and Russia -- hadnow agreed that Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authorityshould develop a new strategy for Gaza. This would aim to stoprocket fire into Israel and reopen crossing points.
"If Hamas is also interested in the well-being of thepeople, (it) will I hope also be willing to cooperate with" thestrategy, Serry told journalists later.
Holmes, who called conditions in Gaza "grim and miserable,"was criticized by Israeli officials during his trip forreferring to a "cycle of violence" -- a phrase one officialsaid equated Israeli self-defence with terrorism.
But Holmes told the Security Council Israel's securityconcerns could not justify everything it did.
"Israel has legitimate security concerns and a right andduty to defend its citizens," he said. "But even in suchcircumstances, security cannot override all other concerns orjustify so much damage to ordinary people's livelihoods andinfringements of their human dignity and human rights."
Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, accused theSecurity Council of dealing with the "consequence" of the Gazastandoff -- the suffering of its people -- rather than the"cause", which he said was Palestinian rocket fire.
"The situation in Gaza could change in a split second, theminute the rocket attacks will stop," he told reporters.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
