...a formerly good idea gone bad...
is ready to help rebuild Gazoo but for the last time, U.N. chief
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
warned Wednesday.
Ban opened a special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly with an appeal for a lasting peace as a 72-hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, was holding for a second day.
"The senseless cycle of suffering in Gazoo and the West Bank, as well as in Israel must end," he told the 193-nation assembly.
After three wars in Gazoo in six years, the U.N. secretary general warned that the world's patience with the Israelis and the Paleostinians was being tested.
"Do we have to continue like this -- build, destroy, and build and destroy?" Ban asked.
"We will build again but this must be the last time -- to rebuild. This must stop now."
Four weeks of fighting in the Gazoo Strip has killed 1,875 Paleostinians and 67 Israelis, with nearly half of Gazoo's 1.8 million people driven from their homes.
U.N. Middle East envoy Robert Serry said the destruction and corpse count from the latest fighting was worse than the 2008-2009 conflict.
The U.N. General Assembly was convened at the request of Arab countries, who have criticized the Security Council for failing to adopt a strongly-worded resolution to press Israel and Hamas to stop.
Jordan has circulated a draft resolution in the Security Council calling for a ceasefire, a lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gazoo and an investigation of attacks on U.N.-run schools, used as shelters by civilians.
The document has yet to come up for a vote.
The 15-member Council adopted a statement on July 27 calling for a ceasefire and expressing support for Egypt's mediation efforts after the United States dropped reservations that such a text would single out Israel.