The spectres of violence and radicalism in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory are growing, and the prospect of
sustainable peace is fading by the day, a senior UN envoy in the
region told the Security Council on Wednesday.
The Council was briefed by Nickolay Mladenov, Special
Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, as well
as Ursula Mueller, Assistant
Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
In a sombre assessment, Mr.
Mladenov characterized the hope of a peaceful two-state solution
as “slim.” Extremists are on the rise and that the risk of war
looms large, he explained.
Against this backdrop, the immediate challenge is the prevention
of an economic and humanitarian implosion in the West Bank and
Gaza.
The Palestinian people, he continued, need the support of the
international community more than ever, as a range of issues are
exerting a “heavy toll” on those living in Gaza and the West
Bank. These include ongoing violence, the lack of progress
towards peace, financial pressures and unilateral measures by the
Government of Israel.
Mr. Mladenov cited a recent decision by Israel to withhold some
$140 million in Palestinian tax revenue transfers (the equivalent
of money paid to Palestinians convicted of terrorism or
security-related offences, and their families), and the decision
of the United States Government to halt funding for the UN Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as factors driving
financial instability in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Ms. Mueller also
described the “rising vulnerability” of Palestinians in
Gaza, with salaries for public sector employees reduced or
withheld, including in the health and education sectors,
unemployment at over 50 per cent, and the fact that most citizens
are dealing with food insecurity.
Funding cuts have forced the World Food
Programme (WFP) to suspend assistance to some 27,000
people and reduce rations to another 166,000 beneficiaries. There
is still, she continued, a considerable funding gap, and she
urged Member States to step up and increase their support for
humanitarian operations.
Ursula Mueller,
Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy
Emergency Relief Coordinator in the Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), addresses the UN Security
Council on situation in the Middle East.
A number of political steps, said Mr. Mladenov, are necessary for
the establishment of peace, including an end to the designation
of land for exclusively Israeli use, as well as the cessation of
Israeli settlement construction and expansion, and the creation
of opportunities for Palestinian development in the West Bank.
Demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures have
continued across the West Bank, with some 900 Palestinians in
East Jerusalem facing eviction.
The Special Envoy condemned violence and terror in the region
over the past few months, which has seen the deaths of 40
children killed by Israeli forces, and the firing of 18 rockets
towards Israel by Palestinian militants. There has been an
upsurge in settler violence over the past year, he reported, with
20 recorded incidents of Israeli settlers injuring Palestinians
or damaging their property.
The casualty figures are “stretching the capacity of health care
providers” in the territory, said Ms. Mueller, putting the entire
system at the risk of collapse: “Since the start of
demonstrations in March 2018, over 27,000 Palestinians have been
injured, more than 6,000 of them by live ammunition. According to
the World Health
Organization (WHO), 122 amputations have
taken place since the start of the mass demonstrations, including
21 paediatric amputations.”
An international community committed to supporting both parties,
leadership, and political will for change are, contended Mr.
Mladenov, of primary importance and, until they are found,
“Palestinians and Israelis will continue to slide into
increasingly hazardous territory.”
