UN welcomes Abbas victory

cctv.com 01-14-2005 13:23

The UN Security Council has praised the Palestinian elections and welcomed victory for Mahmoud Abbas. Meanwhile, over in the West Bank, the new president says he's ready to honor commitments in an internationally backed peace plan... hoping also to restart talks with Israel.

Four days after he was given a clear mandate to succeed Yasser Arafat as the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas won a strong endorsement from the United Nations.

The Argentinean foreign minister, speaking as current President of the Security Council, issued this statement.

Argentinean Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa said: "The Security Council welcomes the Palestinian presidential election held on the 9th of January 2005. It commends the credible and fair character of the vote and congratulates the Palestinian people, who demonstrated their

The Security Council also heard a briefing from UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast.

He urged the international community to build on the renewed spirit of optimism for peace in the Middle East.

And in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Abbas said he is eager to restart talks on the "road map", a peace plan backed by the UN, the US, the European Union and Russia.

The plan, which envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, has been stalled since it was launched in mid-2003 amid violations by both sides. The road map requires Israel to freeze settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza and for Palestinians to dismantle militant groups.

Editor:Wang Ping  Source:CCTV.com