UN PALESTINE

The Special Coordinator for the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, told the Security Council that “the power crisis in Gaza is coming to a head,” as lack of funding is putting “critical health, water and sanitation facilities at risk.” UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:51
• Production Date: 20 September 2018
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: NICKOLAY MLADENOV; NIKKI R. HALEY
• Corporate Name: SECURITY COUNCIL
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY
• Geographic Subject: IRAN; ISRAEL; MIDDLE EAST; PALESTINE
• MAMS Id: 2240107
• Parent Id: 2240107
• Alternate Title: unifeed180920d

Description

STORY: UN / PALESTINE
TRT: 01:51
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 20 SEPTEMBER 2018, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

20 SEPTEMBER 2018, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Nikolay Mladenov, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process:
“As we meet today, the power crisis in Gaza is coming to a head. The United Nations has run out of funding for emergency fuel. This puts critical health, water and sanitation facilities at immediate risk of shutting down while essential medicines are at critical low levels. On the 5th of September, the United Nations delivered the final stocks of available emergency fuel to Gaza. Despite calls for donors to urgently contribute, little additional funding was forthcoming.”
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Nikolay Mladenov, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process:
“The persistent threat of demolitions and displacement of Palestinians in Area C, including in Khan al Ahmar - Abu al- Helu, is of great concern. The 5th September decision of the High Court of Justice places the Bedouin community at imminent risk of demolition. Demolitions undermine the prospects for a two-state solution and are a violation of international law.”
7. Med shot, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Nikki Haley, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is serious and worthy of this Council’s attention, but if there is one country that is the source of conflict and instability in the Middle East, one country that merits a quarterly debate in the Security Council, that country is not Israel, it’s Iran. For almost 40 years, the Iranian regime has existed outside the community of law-abiding nations. It is difficult to name a conflict in the Middle East that does not have Iran’s fingerprints on it.”
9. Med shot, Mladenov
10. Wide shot, Council

Storyline

The Special Coordinator for the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, today (20 Sep) told the Security Council that “the power crisis in Gaza is coming to a head,” as lack of funding is putting “critical health, water and sanitation facilities at risk.”

Emergency fuel and essential medicines, Mladenov said, “are at critical low levels.”

The United States recently suspended more than USD 200 million of economic support funds for the West Bank and Gaza and a further USD 25 million for the East Jerusalem hospital network.

Mladenov said that “despite calls for donors to urgently contribute, little additional funding was forthcoming.”

Turning to the issue of demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures by Israeli authorities, the Special Coordinator said, “the persistent threat of demolitions and displacement of Palestinians in Area C, including in Khan al Ahmar - Abu al- Helu, is of great concern. The 5th September decision of the High Court of Justice places the Bedouin community at imminent risk of demolition.”

He stressed that “demolitions undermine the prospects for a two-state solution and are a violation of international law.”

In her address to the Council, United States Ambassador Nikki Haley said “the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is serious and worthy of this Council’s attention, but if there is one country that is the source of conflict and instability in the Middle East, one country that merits a quarterly debate in the Security Council, that country is not Israel, it’s Iran.

For almost 40 years, she said, “the Iranian regime has existed outside the community of law-abiding nations.”

Haley said it was “difficult to name a conflict in the Middle East that does not have Iran’s fingerprints on it.”

The Security Council was meeting to hear briefing by the Special Coordinator on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2334 for the period covering 13 June to 12 September 2018.

Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted on 23 December 2016, concerns the Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem.