Annan paints grim picture of ME

The report, which will be Annan's last on the issue before he leaves office at the end of the month, will serve as a basis for a debate on the Middle East during a ministerial session of the UN Security Council scheduled for Tuesday.

"Today, the Middle East faces grim prospects, and is more complex, fragile and dangerous than it has been for many years," the Ghanaian UN secretary general said. "The various unresolved but increasingly interconnected conflicts in the region both feed and feed off a growing sense of estrangement between peoples of different faiths, with consequences throughout the world."

Calling the failure to settle the "long-festering Arab-Israeli conflict...the major underlying source of frustration and instability in the region," he urged a "regional approach" to resolve the interconnected crises and conflicts.

"I am convinced that the search for stability in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere will be greatly served by a concerted effort to address the legitimate aspirations of Israelis, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese to achieve two independent and secure states of Israel and Palestine, an end to the occupation of Arab land both in the occupied Palestinian territory and the Golan Heights" as well as peace in Lebanon, he noted.

In this context, Annan said the roadmap, the blueprint for peace drawn up by the diplomatic quartet -- the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations -- remained "the reference point around which any effort to re-energize a political effort on the Israeli-Palestnian track should be centreed."

He urged the quartet to "find a way to institutionalize its consultations with the relevant regional partners" and "to engage the parties directly in its deliberations."

One immediate priority, the UN chief said, was finding "new ways of protecting Palestinian and Israeli civilians" from the continuing violence.

"There is a pressing need for mechanisms for the protection of civilians, and I hope that such possibilities, such as international observers, will be further explored, with the strong backing of the quartet and the (Security) Council," he added.

Annan made it clear that he saw "an active and systematic third party role" as essential to consolidate the current ceasefire in Gaza, promote "unconditional and open-ended talks" between Israeli and Palestinian leaders and establish clear parameters for the settlement of final status issues such as the fate of Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian refugees.