Deteriorating economic conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories are eroding support for the peace process there, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned in a report on Monday, urging greater international assistance to bolster United Nations relief efforts in the area.
"It is not possible to restore security and stability without a resumption of political activity leading towards a just settlement, and of economic activity leading to an improvement of living conditions," he said, reiterating his call for implementation of the recommendations of the fact-finding committee led by former US senator George Mitchell, said the UN news website.
The report provided details on the re-orientation of UN assistance efforts since the latest Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation broke out last September.
"Development-oriented initiatives became extremely difficult to implement in the context of violence and lack of freedom of movement while, at the same time, the immediate needs on the ground called for a rapid response," Annan noted.
In response, UN agencies worked to meet the urgent needs of the Palestinian people, who "found every aspect of their lives disrupted."
Stressing the heightened need for increased activities and services provided by the UN and other organizations in the occupied Palestinian territories, he called upon the international community to support aid programs, especially the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which provides "vital services" to hundreds of thousands of people.
"The dramatic deterioration of the economic and the humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory highlights the urgent need to find a peaceful solution to the ongoing crisis," wrote the UN chief.
He strongly urged the parties to “end the current cycle of violence and to resume a meaningful political process on the basis of UN resolutions, leading to lasting peace and reconciliation.”
Meanwhile, Annan reacted positively to the recent statement by the Group of Eight countries (G8, the seven most industrialized States and Russia) concerning a third party monitoring mechanism in the Middle East.
"I think now that they have come up with that recommendation, we need to work at it and try to see when and how we implement it," he observed.
Annan also said the international community, particularly the countries that made the statement at the G8 summit meeting in Genoa, should be involved in that effort.
"I think we all have to pool our efforts to try and calm the situation on the ground and move forward," he stressed – Albawaba.com
