Fran\u00e7ais\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n video<\/a><\/p>\n Increasing demolitions of Palestinian property \u2014 and the announcement of 1,200 new construction projects in East Jerusalem \u2014 are now the backdrop for a worrying spike in COVID-19 cases in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the senior Â鶹APP official for Middle East peace told a Security Council videoconference meeting today, while calling upon the parties concerned to cooperate urgently on health and economic matters.<\/p>\n Outlining recent developments, Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said that after weeks of declining COVID-19 cases, the number of infections is rising once again in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.\u00a0 The 2\u00a0million people living in the Gaza Strip \u2014 already severely impacted by restrictions on movement, cycles of violence as well as humanitarian and socioeconomic calamity \u2014 are facing a major outbreak, he added.<\/p>\n While welcoming the Palestinian Authority\u2019s decision to restart civilian and security coordination with Israel, he expressed concern that some 121,000 Palestinians lost their jobs in the wake of the first COVID-19 lockdown and that food insecurity rates have soared.\u00a0 With economic recovery likely to be \u201cslow and painful\u201d, the Â鶹APP and its partners are providing critical humanitarian and development assistance, he said, noting that nearly 85,000 tests and advanced laboratory equipment components have been delivered since the outbreak of coronavirus alongside more than 5.5\u00a0million items for preventing and controlling infection.<\/p>\n Temporary arrangements brokered by the Â鶹APP and the World Health Organization (WHO) are facilitating the transfer of medical patients out of Gaza and the import of humanitarian supplies, he continued.\u00a0 Reiterating the Secretary-General\u2019s call for Israeli and Palestinian officials to re-examine and improve the nature of their economic relationship, he said both sides can take immediate steps to move goods into and out of Gaza and to increase trade between that enclave, Israel and the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n He went on to spotlight a worrying incident on 3\u00a0November, when Israeli authorities carried out the most extensive demolitions in the occupied West Bank in a decade, destroying 70 structures in Area C, cautioning that such actions \u2014 and the resulting civilian displacement \u2014 will only compound Palestinian suffering during the upcoming winter.\u00a0 In another concerning development, on 15\u00a0November, Israeli authorities opened a bidding process for the construction of more than 1,2000 housing units in the Givat Hamatos settlement between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, he noted, warning:\u00a0 \u201cIf built, this would further consolidate a ring of settlements [\u2026] and significantly damage prospects for a future contiguous Palestinian State.\u201d<\/p>\n Reiterating his call for Israel to cease such actions, he went on to report that sporadic violent incidents unfortunately continued throughout the period under review.\u00a0 Militants in Gaza fired two rockets and released incendiary balloons towards Israel, though no injuries were reported.\u00a0 One Palestinian was killed and 21 were injured \u2014 and one Israeli soldier was wounded \u2014 in clashes, attacks as well as search-and-arrest operations, he said.\u00a0 On 4\u00a0November, an off-duty officer in the Palestinian Security Forces who had reportedly fired towards Israeli soldiers was shot dead near Huwwara, he added.\u00a0 Palestinians perpetrated 23 attacks against Israeli settlers and other civilians in the occupied West Bank, resulting in injuries and damage to property.<\/p>\n All the while, he noted, the Â鶹APP Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is still suffering a $115\u00a0million funding shortfall for November and December.\u00a0 For the first time, the Agency finds itself unable to pay salaries and expenses in full, impacting 28,000 staff.\u00a0 Emphasizing UNRWA\u2019s essential role as the main provider of direct life-saving assistance to millions, he said it urgently needs $70\u00a0million to continue its operations \u2014 including combating COVID-19 in refugee camps \u2014 in the near term.\u00a0 The international community should urgently step up its support, he stressed.<\/p>\n On regional developments, he welcomed the first visit by Bahrain\u2019s Foreign Minister to Israel, as well as the visit to the region by the Secretary of State of the United States to sign several bilateral agreements.\u00a0 As for the Syrian Golan the situation remains generally stable, as does the area in which the Â鶹APP Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is stationed, he said.<\/p>\n He went on to underline the responsibility borne by both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to explore every opening that may restore hope in a two-State solution.\u00a0 Extending his deep condolences for the loss of Saeb Erekat, he recalled that the late Palestinian Chief Negotiator and Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), who died of COVID-19 on 10\u00a0November, \u201cnever gave up on negotiations\u201d as the only means of achieving peace.<\/p>\n Many delegations echoed that sentiment, expressing condolences for a famed negotiator described by some as a \u201cpassionate advocate for diplomacy\u201d and a dogged champion of the Palestinian people\u2019s sovereign aspirations.\u00a0 Several speakers expressed alarm over the rapid increase in home demolitions in the occupied West Bank \u2014 as well as outrage over the resulting displacement of civilians on the brink of a pandemic winter \u2014 while calling upon Israel to cease its unilateral actions.\u00a0 Others spotlighted the diplomatic normalization sweeping across the region, urging the parties to seize upon that momentum and return to the negotiating table in the spirit of Dr. Erekat\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n The representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Council President for November, spoke in her national capacity, underlining the great human costs of COVID-19.\u00a0 Citing the worsening humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Gaza, she pointed out that despite repeated international calls for a cessation of all settlement activities, Israel continues to methodically plan, tender and build new settlements, and to expand existing ones.\u00a0 Its recent announcement of new construction tenders for 1,200 new structures in Givat Hamatos are of particular concern.\u00a0 Against that backdrop, she underscored the importance of dialogue and expressed support for an international peace conference in 2021, as proposed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.\u00a0 In the meantime, donor States should fill UNRWA\u2019s large funding gap \u201cas a matter of great urgency\u201d, she urged.<\/p>\n The United Kingdom\u2019s representative, rejecting Israel\u2019s recent announcement of construction tenders in an \u201cextremely sensitive\u201d area, emphasized that Gaza\u2019s reconstruction and economic recovery is more urgent than ever in the face of rebounding COVID-19 cases.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Hamas must permanently end its attacks against Israel, he stressed.\u00a0 Recalling that the United Kingdom provided $65\u00a0million to UNRWA in 2020 alone, he called, in particular, upon those countries that recently cut their funding to the Agency to reinstate it as soon as possible.\u00a0 He went on to state that the recent diplomatic normalization agreements demonstrate that Israel and the Arab world can move forward in a more peaceful way, expressing hope that Israeli and Palestinian officials will re-launch talks.<\/p>\n Niger\u2019s representative expressed concern over the \u201ccruel and devastating fate\u201d facing Palestinians in the West Bank, where Israel recently destroyed numerous homes, businesses and even animal shelters and latrines.\u00a0 Calling attention to the absence of construction permits often used by Israel as a pretext to carry out such operations, he pointed out that the Government almost never grants permits to Palestinian applicants.\u00a0 He went on to say that the Palestinian Authority\u2019s recent announcement that it will restart security cooperation with Israel should serve as an impetus to re-launch negotiations.\u00a0 Expressing deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, he noted the spread of COVID-19, now standing at thousands of cases, and the fragile health system struggling to respond.\u00a0 He also stressed that UNRWA needs its critical resources now more than ever.<\/p>\n Belgium\u2019s representative emphasized that any settlement-building initiatives that endanger the possibility of Jerusalem becoming a shared capital must be emphatically denounced if a two-State solution is to have a chance.\u00a0 Stressing the right of Palestinian children to education, she called upon the Israeli authorities to protect 52 schools in the occupied West Bank at risk of demolition.\u00a0 She also called upon Palestinian factions to engage in good-faith efforts to reunify Gaza and the West Bank under a single legitimate authority and to organize democratic elections in the Palestinian territories.\u00a0 She went on to stress the need for strong political and financial support for UNRWA in light of its important role not only for Palestinians, but also for a two-State solution.<\/p>\n China\u2019s representative cited relevant Council resolutions that define settlement activities which undermine the peace process as violations of international law, declaring:\u00a0 \u201cAll parties must avoid an escalation of tensions.\u201d\u00a0 For its part, the international community should remain objective and impartial, he emphasized.\u00a0 \u201cNo plan that deviates from the track of peace will succeed.\u201d\u00a0 Turning to UNRWA\u2019s financial situation, he said China consistently supports the Agency, including through its recent provision of health kits for Palestine refugees across the region.<\/p>\n Germany\u2019s representative expressed regret that negative trends on the ground are \u201cincreasingly entrenching a one-State reality\u201d, describing the recent decision to advance the construction of more than 4,900 building units in the occupied West Bank, and the issuance of new construction tenders, as yet another step in the wrong direction.\u00a0 He went on to emphasize that Israel\u2019s suspension of plans to annex part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory must become permanent, and affirmed that Germany will not recognize any changes to the June 1967 lines other than those agreed by the parties.\u00a0 Both sides should seize the positive momentum from recent diplomatic dynamics in the broader region and return to a path of meaningful negotiations on all final-status issues, while rejecting terrorism, provocative acts and inflammatory rhetoric, he urged.<\/p>\n The Russian Federation\u2019s representative said lasting peace in the Middle East is impossible without a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on international law and through direct negotiations between the relevant parties.\u00a0 He called upon the Middle East Quartet (Â鶹APP, United States, Russian Federation, European Union) to strengthen its engagement with key regional stakeholders, while welcoming the resumption of contacts between the Palestinian and Israeli leaderships.\u00a0 All parties should uphold their obligations in line with earlier agreements and abstain from aggressive rhetoric and actions, he said, citing both the construction of new settlements and the launching of rocket fire from Palestine into Israel.\u00a0 He went on to join others in expressing concern over UNRWA\u2019s funding shortfall, calling upon the international community to increase its support for the Agency.<\/p>\n The Dominican Republic\u2019s representative, while also sounding the alarm over UNRWA\u2019s financial situation, pointed out that the Occupied Palestinian Territory\u2019s health system faces imminent collapse under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0 He went on to call for real dialogue addressing the aspirations and concerns of both parties and welcomed news reports that the Palestinian Authority and Israel will resume ties on the basis of prior agreements.\u00a0 For its part, the Council must work hard and in unity so that the strong and resilient people of the Middle East can experience peace as the rule, with conflict as the exception, he said.<\/p>\n Viet Nam\u2019s representative praised the Palestinian Authority\u2019s stated willingness to resume negotiations with Israel, urging the Council and the wider global community to create favourable conditions for the success of such talks.\u00a0 Describing the recent easing of tensions as encouraging, he nevertheless agreed with other speakers that the demolition of Palestinian structures in the West Bank is weakening prospects for a two-State solution.\u00a0 The parties must refrain from actions and statements that could make dialogue more difficult, he said, calling also for the lifting of the Gaza blockade and for an end to restrictions, attacks and intimidation aimed at Palestinian farmers during olive harvest season.\u00a0 He went on to echo international calls for the urgent provision of funding to UNRWA.<\/p>\n France\u2019s representative said the Israel-Palestinian conflict is at a turning point and it is more urgent than ever to build momentum towards peace on the basis of a two-State solution.\u00a0 Expressing alarm at Israel\u2019s proliferating settlement expansion and record demolitions of Palestinian structures \u2014 including those financed by the European Union and its member States \u2014 he called upon the authorities to revisit their decisions in that regard.\u00a0 Israel\u2019s suspension of its annexation project must be definitive and not replaced by\u00a0faits accompli<\/em>\u00a0on the ground, he emphasized.\u00a0 Welcoming the announced resumption of cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, he said the elections announced by President Abbas in September must not be postponed again.<\/p>\n Tunisia\u2019s representative underlined the Council\u2019s obligation to support a two-State solution, an end to the occupation and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian State, pointing out that Israel, the occupying Power, continues flagrantly to disregard international conventions and Council resolutions.\u00a0 Rejecting that country\u2019s annexation plans and recent settlement expansion, he said the Council should play its part by ensuring the implementation of its own resolutions, especially resolution\u00a02334\u00a0(2016).\u00a0 He joined others in calling for the immediate lifting of the blockade of Gaza \u2014 highlighting the immense suffering it has caused for 14 years \u2014 while echoing calls for the re-launch of negotiations and for the holding of the international conference proposed by President Abbas.<\/p>\n Indonesia\u2019s representative emphasized that the international community must remain committed not only to a credible multilateral process, but also to protecting the internationally agreed consensus concerning Palestine.\u00a0 In that regard, he said, Indonesia supports the convening of an international peace conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the resumption of talks involving all relevant parties.\u00a0 He went on to note that, given Israel\u2019s \u201ccreeping annexation\u201d of Palestinian territory, the international community must reaffirm the illegality of Israeli settlements as well as the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, statehood and independence.\u00a0 Turning to UNRWA, he appealed to the international community to match its political commitment to the Agency with sufficient and predictable financial contributions.<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s representative condemned Israel\u2019s \u201ccontinuing and abundant\u201d illegal actions, including its recent demolition of 76 structures in the Bedouin village of Khirbet Humsa.\u00a0 The wide-spread destruction of property represents a grave breach of international law, he said, adding that Israel continues to pursue illegal settlement activities in the West Bank amounting to de-facto annexation.\u00a0 \u201cA viable peace plan should not allow Palestinian statehood to devolve into an entity devoid of sovereignty, territorial contiguity and economic viability,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n The representative of the United States noted that the recently-concluded Abraham Accords \u2014 which normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan \u2014 have brought peace within reach and triggered a wave of unprecedented interactions across the Middle East.\u00a0 Calling upon the Palestinians to seize that momentum, she declared: \u00a0\u201cWe are putting decades of diplomatic failure behind us.\u201d\u00a0 In that regard, she urged the Council to put its monthly briefings on the Middle East to better use, noting that its current meetings on the matter are characterized by counter-productive rhetoric.\u00a0 Instead, the Council should turn its attention to Iran\u2019s sponsorship of terror groups and the ongoing conflict in Yemen, she said.<\/p>\n For information media. Not an official record.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SC\/14360 18 NOVEMBER 2020 Fran\u00e7ais\u00a0 video Delegates Echo Coordinator\u2019s Tribute to Saeb Erekat, Hailing Late Palestinian Chief Negotiator as \u2018Passionate Advocate for Diplomacy\u2019 Increasing demolitions of Palestinian property \u2014 and the announcement of 1,200 new construction projects in East Jerusalem \u2014 are now the backdrop for a worrying spike in COVID-19 cases in the Occupied […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[1362,6169,1877],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,5358,2533,2029,2181,1626,2385],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6541],"class_list":["post-242184","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-source-security-council","document-source-united-nations-department-of-global-communications","document-source-united-nations-special-coordinator-for-the-middle-east-peace-process-unsco","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-ClosuresCurfewsBlockades","document-subject-health","document-subject-house-demolitions","document-subject-negotiations-and-agreements","document-subject-security-council-briefings","document-subject-security-issues","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-french"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/242184","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\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/242184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=242184"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=242184"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=242184"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=242184"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=242184"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=242184"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=242184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Delegates Echo Coordinator\u2019s Tribute to Saeb Erekat, Hailing Late Palestinian Chief Negotiator as \u2018Passionate Advocate for Diplomacy\u2019<\/u><\/strong><\/h4>\n