Many participants at the 61st session of the UN General Assembly called for a just and comprehensive peaceful solution to the conflicts in the Middle East as they addressed the general debate on Tuesday.

Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahhren described the situation in the Middle East as "the single greatest challenge to international peace and security."

The dreadful events of recent months, he noted, have again brought before the eyes of the world the continuing suffering being borne by the peoples of the region. Frustration at the long agony of the Palestinian people creates and sharpens wider divisions across the world.

"A comprehensive settlement to the inter-related problems on the region is more urgently required than at any time in the past 60 years," he said.

He stressed that the only resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict lies in a negotiated outcome. "It is time for a major new international effort to launch serious negotiations for a settlement, the establishment of two sovereign democratic states living together in peace and security," he added.

Tunisian Foreign Minister Abdelwaheb Abdallah said Tunisia has always called for dialogue, negotiation and recourse to international legality, and he stressed again the necessity to find a just, lasting, and comprehensive settlement to the Arab- Israeli conflict, so that all the peoples of the region can live in peace and security.

He appealed to the international community to provide the Palestinian people with urgent protection, and urged the concerned parties, especially the Quartet, to ensure the appropriate conditions to revive the Middle East peace process on all tracks in accordance with the constant Arab efforts.

These efforts, he noted, "will help the Palestinian People regain its legitimate rights, including in particular, the establishment of its independent State, and allow sister states Syria and Lebanon to recover their occupied territories" he said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem said the Middle East stands at a cross roads, and has the option of either taking the road of justice, peace and security, or be faced even more than before with tensions and confrontations that would not be in the interest of any party inside or outside the region.

He stressed it is up to the parties concerned to understand the danger inherent in turning their backs to the road of peace. Everything hinges also on the active role of the United Nations, the most important among them the implementation of Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, he added.

The minister expressed his belief that the object and desire for peace will triumph over other options so that the Middle East can be ushered into a new secure and prosperous era after decades of suffering.

Source: Xinhua