"ALVARO DE SOTO"

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon briefs journalists, after his monthly luncheon with Security Council members, on Lebanon, Darfur, and Gaza. UNTV

A senior UN official says a convergence of positive factors, including a new Palestinian unity Government and the first political talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in six years may have the potential re-energize efforts to achieve a two-State solution, but many immediate and longer-term challenges need to be overcome. UNTV

Warning that "crisis and opportunity" exist side-by-side every day in the Middle East, the top United Nations envoy for peace in the region tells the Security Council that only simultaneous dialogue with all parties in the conflict will bring a lasting end to the bloodshed. UNTV

Key international partners seeking Israeli-Palestinian peace began a series of crucial meetings at United Nations Headquarters in New York today at a critical juncture for the process with political progress deadlocked and a humanitarian crisis looming in the occupied Gaza Strip. UNIFEED

Alvaro de Soto, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process tells the Security Council today that the new Hamas-led Government is finding it difficult to meet running costs, including security and that lawlessness is becoming endemic. UNIFEED

Alvaro de Soto, United Nations Middle East Envoy said in a briefing to the Security Council this morning that the collapse of the Palestinian Authority could end all hopes of achieving a Palestinian State in a reasonable time frame. UNTV

UN Special Coordinator Alvaro de Soto briefing the Security Council on the Middle East. UNTV

Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast, reporting on the Quartet (European Union, Russian Federation, United States, United Nations) meeting in Moscow on 9 May, said the discussion, which sought to review the current situation in the Middle East, with a particular attention to Gaza engagement, had focused on how best to help the parties maintain the momentum at "this fragile moment of opportunity". Both parties were reminded of the need to avoid unilateral actions that might pre-judge final status issues, and urged to implement their obligations under the Road Map. UNTV

Michael Littlejohns interviews Alvaro De Soto, Senior Political Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General, for World Chronicle program 513.

Press conference held by UN Secretary-General and Alvaro de Soto on the El Salvador peace process.