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UN:
MIDDLE EAST PEACE CONFERENCE A 'SIGNIFICANT BREAKTHROUGH,' SAYS TOP UN
OFFICIAL:
01/12/2007 (MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network /
- 01 December 2007 -
This week’s conference in the United States
was “the most significant breakthrough” in the Middle East peace process in
several years, but the difficult humanitarian and security situation on the
ground should not be overlooked, the top United Nations political official told
the Security Council today.
Under-Secretary-General
for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe said violence continues to plague both
Palestinians and Israelis and the humanitarian conditions in the occupied
Palestinian territories, especially the Gaza Strip, were “a source of acute
concern.”
But Mr.
Pascoe stressed that the conference, held in the city of Annapolis earlier this
week, offered a “clear way forward” to end the conflict, with the leaders of
the two sides having agreed to launch immediately good-faith negotiations to try
to conclude a peace treaty by the end of next year that resolves all outstanding
issues.
“For
60 years the Israeli State has feared for its survival and the survival of its
people,” he said. “For 60 years the Palestinian people have wandered and
suffered in search of a State. It is time for the Palestinians to have a home of
their own. It is time for the Israelis to feel at peace in their home. The time
to act is now. Let us go forward and each play our part.”
Reiterating
the full support of the UN for the peace process, the Under-Secretary-General
said more efforts have to be made to ease the situation on the ground, which
remains tense.
Since
his last briefing to the Council, Mr. Pascoe said 42 Palestinians had been
killed, 133 others injured and at least 346 detained by the Israeli Defense
Forces (IDF), while two Israelis were killed and six others injured as well. In
Gaza, the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit entered his eighteenth month of
captivity, and Palestinian militants fired over 116 rockets and 121 mortars.
Factional fighting among Palestinians also intensified.
Mr.
Pascoe noted that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has raised his strong concerns
about the humanitarian situation inside the Gaza Strip, where the closure or
restrictions of border crossing points into Israel have hurt the economy and
made it difficult for local Palestinians to obtain vital health care and other
services.
Turning
to Lebanon, he said that the extensive diplomatic efforts to mediate between the
parties – which have been divided for months over the appointment of a new
president to succeed Emile Lahoud, whose term ended last week – are ongoing,
aimed at bridging the political divide.
Meanwhile,
the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNFIL) said it has observed a significant
number of Israeli overflights in the past few days and is reporting these
incidents to the Security Council via the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
Gen.
Claudio Graziano, the UNIFIL Force Commander, has also raised the issue with the
Israeli army commander, voicing his serious concern and asking them to stop the
violations.
In
related news, the General Assembly today concluded a two-day debate on the
Question of Palestine and also held a meeting on the situation in the Middle
East.
The UN
Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the
Palestinian People also issued a statement welcoming the holding of the
conference in Annapolis and the Joint Understanding that was reached by
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Ehud Olmert.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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Masood Haider, Kerry
Kennedy, Ian Williams, Stephen Schlesinger, Sen.
Timothy E. Wirth, Marc Morial, Amb. Jayantha
Dhanapala (Sri Lanka), Amb. Pierre Schori
(Sweden), Amb. William H. Luers, Susan Roosevelt
Weld, Rory Kennedy, Mehri
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others.
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