In a two-hour exit interview, he recalled being surprised at how irrelevant he initially felt upon arriving in Jerusalem in 2015 as UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process — a post created in 1999, when there still was a peace process. His predecessors had by and large functioned as gadflies, experts said, firing off statements that tended to criticize Israel but seldom venturing from the sidelines. “This mission was very much isolated from any sort of high-level interaction,” Mladenov said. Basically, one side expects you to just repeat what they say; the other side expects you to go away, and that’s it.”He did neither. Taking action in the absence of negotiations ran contrary to diplomatic doctrine at the time, which held that resuming peace talks was the way to solve everything.

Source: bd News24 January 03, 2021 11:26 UTC