The Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process warned that keeping the so-called "Regularisation Law" in place would have far-reaching consequences for Israel, while seriously undermining prospects for the two-State solution and Arab-Israeli peace.

Israel’s parliament had adopted the law which would allow the use of privately owned Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank for the construction of Israeli settlements without the owners’ consent. The new law also had the potential to retroactively "regularise" thousands of existing settlement units built on lands owned by Palestinians living under occupation.

The Middle East continued to be plagued by extremism, bloodshed and displacement that spread intolerance, violence and religious radicalism far beyond the region, Nickolay Mladenov, the Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Security Council today, urging both the Israeli and Palestinian sides to contemplate carefully the future they envisioned for their respective peoples.

"The two-State solution remains the only way to achieve the legitimate national aspirations of both peoples," Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov emphasised as he briefed the 15-nation Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. Speaking by video teleconference from Jerusalem, he suggesting that Israel could stop constructing and expanding settlements to preserve that prospect, while the Palestinian leadership could tackle the challenges of violence and incitement on their side.