{"id":200651,"date":"2011-05-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T18:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?p=200651"},"modified":"2019-03-12T18:01:21","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T18:01:21","slug":"auto-insert-200651","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-200651\/","title":{"rendered":"UN officials underscore concerns about Middle East after day of deadly clashes – UN news item"},"content":{"rendered":"
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UN officials underscore concerns about Middle East after day of deadly clashes<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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16 May 2011 – Â鶹APP officials warned today that further deaths and instability will occur unless a lasting solution is found to the Middle East conflict, a day after 12 people were reportedly killed following protests in Lebanon, the occupied Golan Heights and the occupied Palestinian territories. <\/p><\/div>\n

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The protests around the region took place as many Palestinians marked what they refer to as Nakba or “catastrophe” – the anniversary of Israeli independence in 1948. <\/p><\/div>\n

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Filippo Grandi, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)<\/span><\/a>, issued a <\/span>statement<\/a> <\/span>in which he urged all sides to show restraint and ensure that civilians are not killed or injured. <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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Mr. Grandi’s statement echoed the remarks yesterday of <\/span>Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon<\/a>, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs <\/span>Valerie Amos<\/a> and Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas, the Force Commander of the UN peacekeeping operation in Lebanon (UNIFIL<\/span>), who all expressed deep concern about the situation in the region. <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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“These sad events demonstrate once more the vulnerability of the Palestine refugees we serve,” Mr. Grandi said. <\/p><\/div>\n

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“They underline the need for a just and durable solution, based on UN resolutions, to resolve the plight of those who have endured statelessness, exile and dispossession for 63 years.” <\/p><\/div>\n

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Mr. Grandi noted that the Middle East and North Africa, where pro-democracy movements have taken to the streets to demand change from their governments, was undergoing “a time of profound and far-reaching change.” <\/p><\/div>\n

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He urged the parties to tackle what Mr. Ban has called the unsustainable status quo in the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the fate of the Palestinian refugees. “I fear that failure to do so will only lead to more instability and further loss of life,” he said. <\/p><\/div>\n

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Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, issued his own <\/span>statement<\/a> <\/span>in which he urged the international community to take action to compel Israel to end its occupation and confiscation of Palestinian land. <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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“This past week, seven Palestinian families in the West Bank village of al-Walaja received demolition orders,” he said. “This is a reminder that the Nakba continues. Israel’s pursuit of what it calls ‘facts on the ground’ consistently forces Palestinians to abandon their homes, lands and lives, creating a reality better understood as virtual annexation.” <\/p><\/div>\n

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Mr. Falk described this year as a particularly notable anniversary of Nakba, because “it coincides with the release of information confirming that Israel secretly revoked as many as 140,000 residency permits of Palestinians between 1967 and 1994. <\/p><\/div>\n

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“This is not only another violation of Israel’s obligations as the occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention. It is also a glaring example of several sinister schemes that Israel has employed over the years to rid historic Palestine of its original inhabitants, in order to make space for Israeli citizens.” <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UN officials underscore concerns about Middle East after day of deadly clashes 16 May 2011 – Â鶹APP officials warned today that further deaths and instability will occur unless a lasting solution is found to the Middle East conflict, a day after 12 people were reportedly killed following protests in Lebanon, the occupied Golan Heights […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2437,2433,2769,2545],"document-source":[5352,2025,1897,2165,1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,1829,1861,2237,1805,1929,2385,1965],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6544,6542,6541,6538],"class_list":["post-200651","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-arabic-text","document-category-french-text","document-category-spanish-text","document-category-un-news-item","document-source-secretary-general","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-opt","document-source-united-nations-department-of-public-information-dpi","document-source-united-nations-news-service","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-fourth-geneva-convention","document-subject-golan-heights","document-subject-occupation","document-subject-peacekeeping","document-subject-security-issues","document-subject-situation-in-lebanon","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-arabic","document-language-english","document-language-french","document-language-spanish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/200651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/200651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=200651"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=200651"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=200651"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=200651"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=200651"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=200651"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=200651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}