Cooperation between Israelis and the Palestinians at the outset
of the COVID-19 pandemic is breaking down, putting human lives at
risk as the economy goes into meltdown and the threat of Israeli
annexation of parts of the West Bank lingers, the UN’s Special
Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process says.
Nickolay Mladenov,
briefing the Security Council
on Tuesday, said that a
dramatic increase in novel coronavirus cases in
both the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel is
having a big impact on the situation on the ground.
Gaza prevention efforts faltering
Israel and the Palestinian Authority have both put restrictions
on movement back into place, but the ability to cope with a big
surge in cases in the West Bank - and to improve prevention
efforts in Gaza – is being “significantly compounded” by the end
of coordinated measures seen at
the outset of the pandemic, he said.
In addition, the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to accept any
clearance revenues transferred by Israel, is blocking the ability
of Gaza inhabitants to travel outside for treatment and
triggering delays in the delivery of humanitarian assistance, he
added.
The UN is trying to help by engaging with all sides to ensure
that humanitarian aid gets through, but there are limits to what
it and others can do, he said, stressing that primary
responsibility for people’s well-being still remains with the
Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Government.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday put the
number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Israel at
49,481, with 403 fatalities. In the West Bank and Gaza, it
reported 10,052 cases and 65 deaths.
Mr. Mladenov briefed the Council’s monthly debate on the
Palestinian question via video-teleconference as several world
leaders – including, in a recent op-ed in an Israeli newspaper,
United Kingdom Prime Minister - echoed Secretary-General António
Guterres’ call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
to abandon plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
The Special Coordinator also reiterated the UN chief’s call to
members of the Middle East Quartet, Arab countries, and the
Israeli and Palestinian leaderships to re-engage urgently.
“We need to restart diplomacy”, he said, adding that the COVID-19
pandemic and its ensuing economic crisis, which has sent Israeli
unemployment soaring past 20 per cent, are a chance to move
forward along the path to a negotiated two-State solution in line
with UN resolutions, bilateral agreements and international law.
‘Extraordinary measures’
“The ferocity of the COVID-19 virus and its
devastating human and economic toll demand extraordinary measures
(that) rise above politics-as-usual,” he said.
“Immediate efforts to curb the virus and to mitigate its impact
must be prioritized. Israeli and Palestinian leaders have a duty
to protect the lives and livelihoods of their populations.”
