Moon asks for intl effort to break the Middle East 'stalemate'

Just days ahead of a looming diplomatic showdown between Palestine and Israel, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday stressed on a new international effort to break the Middle East "stalemate".

"We have long agreed that Palestinians deserve a state. Israel needs security. Both want peace. We pledge our unrelenting efforts to help achieve that peace through a negotiated settlement," Ban said at the 66th session of the UN General Assembly.

"In the Middle East, we must break the stalemate," Ban told world leaders including Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and United States President Barack Obama.

Abbas has said he will seek full Palestinian membership in the United Nations after his speech to the assembly on Friday.

The move is expected to be opposed by Israel and US, a close ally of the Jewish state, has said it will veto it if the proposal comes up in the Security Council.

Meanwhile, Ban also called on the world leaders to combine efforts in areas of sustainable development and to support countries in transition as well as work for a safer and secure world.

"We have five imperatives - five generational opportunities to shape the world of tomorrow by the decisions we make today," Ban said.

He cited sustainable development, preventing and mitigating conflicts, human rights abuses and the impacts of natural disasters, building a safer and more secure world, supporting countries in transition and working to engage the talents of women and young people as the key areas that the world needs to work on.

He urged the countries to work on disarmament and non-proliferation to "fulfill the dream of a world free of nuclear weapons."

Ban said he was pleased to see many women leaders in the UN today and acknowledged Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who will be the first woman in UN history to open the general debate.