United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged the international community to be patient in order to give the new Palestinian unity government time to coordinate positions and hopefully recognize Israel and renounce violence.

The Quartet of international mediators trying to promote Mideast peace - the UN, the United States, the European Union and Russia - has demanded that the coalition government meet those conditions and accept past peace agreements.

But with Hamas refusing to do so, international sanctions have remained in place, preventing millions of dollars from reaching the Palestinian cabinet.

	Advertisement

Ban, who just returned from an 11-day Mideast trip, said Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr, an independent cabinet member, "assured me that his government will continue to work to meet the expectations of the international community."

From his meetings with the foreign minister and others, however, the secretary-general said, "it may take time for them to make their own positions coordinated among themselves."

"Therefore, I would hope that while the international community encouraged them to change their positions and perform well in meeting the expectations of the international community, we would also hope to be a little bit patient on this matter," Ban said.

He noted that the Quartet has decided to wait and see how the Palestinian government, particularly Hamas, "will perform in terms of all these international expectations."

In addition to visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories, Ban attended last week's Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia where a dormant 2002 Saudi peace initiative was relaunched.

The plan offers Israel recognition and permanent peace with all Arab countries in return for an Israeli withdrawal from lands captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. It also calls for setting up a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees.

Ban said he was encouraged that Arab leaders "are determined to visit this issue again as a foundation for establishing a good relationship and peace between Israel and Arab countries, and particularly between Israel and the Palestinian authorities."