ISRAEL MUST OPEN GAZA, FREEZE SETTLEMENTS, SAYS BAN

ISRAEL MUST OPEN GAZA, FREEZE SETTLEMENTS, SAYS BAN
New York, Jun 8 2009 1:00PM
Underscoring the need for a two-State solution and a durable peace in the region, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on Israel to allow fuel and building materials into Gaza, freeze settlements in the West Bank and make fundamental changes in its security practices and policies.

In a <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=3907">message to the two-day meeting of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Mr. Ban expressed his serious concern over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

"Nearly five months after the end of the hostilities, nothing beyond basic needs such as food and medicine is allowed in," he said, noting that current conditions preclude the success of recovery efforts and long-term development initiatives.

"I call on Israel to allow in the fuel, funds and materials that are urgently required to repair destroyed and damaged schools, clinics, sanitation networks and shelters and to restore a functioning market," the Secretary-General said in the message to the gathering in Jakarta delivered by Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

In the West Bank, he said, progress is blocked by the Israel Defence Forces' routine incursions.

"Palestinians continue to endure unacceptable unilateral actions, such as house demolitions, intensified settlement activity, settler violence, and ever increasing movement restrictions due to permits, checkpoints and the wall and fence barrier," Mr. Ban stressed. "The time has come for Israel to fundamentally change its policies in this regard, as it has repeatedly promised to do."

A "full settlement freeze" in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem is necessary, he added.

The Secretary-General said that there had been almost no progress on the Security Council resolutions calling for a durable and fully respected ceasefire, prevention of the illicit supply of weapons to Gaza, the reopening of the crossings and Palestinian reconciliation under the legitimate Palestinian Authority.

"We have a clear objective," he said, which is "an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian State living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel, and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the region."

He said he is encouraged by United States President Barack Obama's commitment to the objectives and said he is looking forward to a meeting, in the near future, of the Middle East Quartet – made up of the UN, European Union, Russia and US – to discuss peace in the region.
________________

ISRAELI CHECKPOINTS CONTINUE RESTRICTING PALESTINIAN MOVEMENT – UN REPORT

New York, May 27 2009 6:00PM
Israeli obstacles continue to constrain the freedom of movement for Palestinians living in the West Bank, according to a new <"http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_movement_and_access_2009_05_25_english.pdf">report by the United Nations humanitarian arm.

Despite several measures implemented by Israel which have eased traffic flow on some routes into the four main cities of Nablus, Hebron, Tulkarm and Ramallah, other actions have further controlled Palestinian access while easing the movement of Israeli settlers, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (<"http://ochaonline.un.org/">OCHA) report noted.

The combination of physical obstacles, including checkpoints, roadblocks and the separation Barrier, as well as administrative and legal restrictions, such as prohibited roads, affect Palestinians' vehicular and pedestrian access throughout the West Bank.

"The Israeli authorities have justified this system as a temporary measure to contain violent confrontations with Palestinians and to protect Israeli citizens, both in Israel and in the West Bank settlements, from Palestinians," the new publication said.

During the reporting period – September 2008-March 2009 – OCHA field teams said they documented 634 physical obstacles.

The expansion of checkpoints, which often entails the seizure of Palestinian land in the vicinity of an existing checkpoint, as well as the replacing of rudimentary obstacles with more permanent ones, are among the measures which are entrenching a system of restrictions which "diminishes the prospects for a genuine improvement in the degree of control that Palestinians have over the physical space of the West Bank," the report said.

"Without such improvement, the possibilities available for the Palestinian population to address its own needs will necessarily remain limited," it added.

Israeli settlements erected in the West Bank since 1967, according to the report, are perhaps the most important factor driving the restrictions. The areas within the boundaries of the nearly 150 settlements, comprising 3 per cent of the West Bank, are inaccessible to Palestinians and further fragment the territory.

The OCHA report concluded that the movement and access restrictions "have resulted in a contraction of the overall space available for Palestinian development and a decrease in the degree of control that Palestinians have over that space.
________________