With violence continuing daily throughout the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, the Special Coordinator for the
Middle East Peace Process urged the Security
Council on Tuesday to adopt
a more coordinated approach to the region.
Tor Wennesland told Council
Members that “recent developments on the ground are
worrying”, pointing out the situation in the West
Bank and Gaza and the challenges faced by the
Palestinian Authority.
“I therefore emphasize again the importance of concerted efforts
by the parties to calm things on the ground. I am
concerned that if we do not act quickly and decisively, we risk
plunging into another deadly escalation of violence”, he
warned.
He informed that, in the last month, violence resulted in the
death of four Palestinians, including two children, and injuries
to 90 others - including 12 children - due to action by Israeli
Security Forces.
One Israeli civilian was killed in the same period, and nine
civilians, including one woman and one child, and six members of
ISF were injured.
Challenges
Mr. Wennesland said that a severe fiscal and
economic crisis is threatening the stability of Palestinian
institutions in the West Bank.
At the same time, he added, “ongoing violence and unilateral
steps, including Israeli settlement expansion, and demolitions,
continue to raise tensions, feed hopelessness, erode the
Palestinian Authority’s standing and further diminish the
prospect of a return to meaningful negotiations.”
In Gaza, the cessation of hostilities continues to hold,
but the Special Envoy argued that “further steps are needed
by all parties to ensure a sustainable solution that ultimately
enables a return of legitimate Palestinian Government
institutions to the Strip.”
Settlements
The Special
Coordinator also said that “settler-related
violence remains at alarmingly high levels.”
Overall, settlers and other Israeli civilians in the occupied
West Bank perpetrated some 54 attacks against Palestinians,
resulting in 26 injuries. Palestinians perpetrated 41 attacks
against Israeli settlers and other civilians, resulting in one
death and nine injuries.
Mr. Wennesland highlighted a few announcements
of housing units in settlements, reiterating that “that all
settlements are illegal under international law and remain a
substantial obstacle to peace.”
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have also advanced plans for some
6,000 housing units for Palestinians in the occupied East
Jerusalem neighbourhood of al-Issawiya and some 1,300 housing
units for Palestinians living in Area C (one of the
administrative areas in the occupied West Bank, agreed under the
Oslo Accord).
The Special Envoy welcomed such steps
but urged Israel to advance more plans
and to issue building permits for all previously
approved plans for Palestinians in Area C and East
Jerusalem.
Humanitarian aid delivered
Turning to Gaza, the Special Envoy said
that humanitarian, recovery and reconstruction efforts
continued, along with other steps to stabilize the
situation on the ground.
He called the gradual easing of restrictions on the entry of
goods and people “encouraging”, but said that the
economic, security and humanitarian situation “remains of
serious concern.”
The Special Envoy also mentioned
the precarious financial situation of the UN Relief and
Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which still
lacks $60 million to sustain essential services this
year.
The agency has yet to pay the November salaries of over
28,000 UN personnel, including teachers, doctors, nurses and
sanitation workers, many of whom support extended families,
particularly in the Gaza Strip, where
unemployment is high.
