United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Thursday that "long overdue" progress in ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was impacting the entire region , Ma'an reported.
At a news conference on Thursday, just days before the start of the UN General Assembly debates, Ban said he was "profoundly troubled by the lack of progress in the peace negotiations."
"It is vital that they resume. Ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and achieving a two-state solution is long overdue. Time is not our friend," warned Ban.
The UN chief said all sides had accepted the vision of a two-state solution, and now had responsibility to pursue it.
"The international community has a duty to create some conditions favorable to this," he told reporters.
Ban said Israel also "has a duty to create such conditions," and called Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem not "favorable" or "helpful".
"At the same time the Palestinians should also try to sit together with Israeli people," Ban said.
The Secretary General said lack of progress in the Middle East has affected the entire region.
"I am deeply concerned with the lack of progress in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. We are now witnessing a very deteriorating, a rapidly deteriorating situations among, between and among many important players in the region."
Next week, 121 heads of state and government will gather at the UN headquarters for the annual General Assembly, which begins its annual gathering on September 21.
During the meetings, Palestinian leaders said they will press for full UN membership.
Israel has also said any such move would put an end to negotiations, which were frozen a year ago in a dispute over Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he would address the United Nations next week and urge the Palestinians to negotiate peace with Israel rather than pursue the bid for full UN membership for a Palestinian state.