Israel and Palestinans moving away from two-state deal, warns Ban

The absence of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, in addition to the dramatic events in the Middle East, have moved the parties away from the search for a two-state solution, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday, DPA reported.

Ban submitted a report to the UN Security Council a year after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas applied for UN membership and Palestinian statehood, saying that the two sides have moved into a "one-state reality."

He said such a reality has "diminished the prospects of regional peace in the spirit of the Arab Peace Initiative," a reference to the strategy to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a diplomatic solution.

Ban noted failure in the past year to seek a negotiated end to the conflict and realize the "legitimate aspirations of Palestinians to a state of their own, and Israel to live within recognized and secure border."

"Peace and Palestinian statehood are long overdue," he said.

Abbas requested UN membership for and recognition of a Palestinian state when he attended the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2011.

The 15-nation council, which had to make the first decision on the application, did not act on it. Several council members, including the United States, opposed the request, preferring that a political solution must be found to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict first.