UN envoy urges action to stop Palestinian split

UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Reuters) The new UN Middle East envoy called today for action to stop the Palestinian territories being split in two after Hamas crushed the forces of President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza.

In his first report to the Security Council since his appointment last month, Briton Michael Williams also said the world body had a key role to play in reopening crossing points between Israel and the Gaza Strip to ease the flow of aid.

''I call on all not to allow this vital humanitarian issue to be overshadowed by political considerations,'' he said.

Hamas Islamist militias overran Abbas's Fatah faction and seized control of Gaza a week ago. In response, Abbas disbanded the Hamas-led Palestinian unity government and formed an emergency cabinet in the West Bank.

Williams said the violence in Gaza was ''totally unacceptable'' and that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ''regrets the failure of the National Unity Government''.

Despite dismay at events in Gaza, Israel and its Western allies have welcomed the exclusion of Hamas from the new government, a move paving the way for them to lift their economic and diplomatic blockade on the Palestinian Authority.

Williams said the United Nations faced the challenge of ''how to restore the unity of the Palestinian Authority and people, and prevent the de facto divide between Gaza and the West Bank.'' ''Despite what has happened, Gaza and the West Bank remain one Palestinian territory, legally administered by one Palestinian Authority headed by President Abbas,'' he said.

Williams urged Israel to make good on commitments to release Palestinian tax and customs receipts, evacuate settlement outposts, remove roadblocks and checkpoints and release prisoners. The Palestinian Authority, for its part, should thoroughly reform itself, he added.

Williams said Ban hoped the Quartet of Middle East mediators -- the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union -- would meet soon.

The group had planned to meet in Cairo on June 26-27, but that has been shelved following the Gaza violence. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said today the meeting would happen ''at some point'' but probably not in June.

Williams told reporters he saw ''little chance in the short run'' of any UN peace-keeping force being sent to Gaza, an idea that has been discussed in the region.

''It would have to be with the agreement of all the parties concerned and one of those parties ... namely Hamas, has said very, very clearly and unequivocally that they would be opposed to such a force,'' he said.

Williams took over his job from Peruvian Alvaro de Soto, who resigned with a confidential final report criticizing Israel and the United States. In reply to a question, the new envoy distanced himself from his predecessor's views.

REUTERS RKM BST0142