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UN / MIDDLE EAST WRAP
STORY: UN / MIDDLE EAST WRAP
SOURCE: UNTV
TRT: 3.48
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ FRENCH/ RUSSIAN/ NATS
DATELINE: 11 MAY 2009, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN building
11 MAY 2009, NEW YORK CITY
2. Zoom in, Security Council
3. Med shot, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“After the inconclusive results of last year's negotiations, and the bloodshed in Gaza, the last three months witnessed almost no progress on the two key resolutions – 1850 and 1860 – recently adopted by this Council. I hope that your meeting today will help provide direction and momentum.”
5. Various shots, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“We should be as determined as we are patient, as insistent as we are supportive, as principled as we are empathetic to the very real concerns of both parties. The parties need confidence that the process will address their vital interests. For that, they need confidence that commitments made will be commitments monitored and commitments kept.”
7. Med shot, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Bernard Kouchner, French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs:
“We must step op our effort to facilitate a resumption of political negotiations which would lead to a comprehensive settlement. The existence and security of Israel are not negotiable. However, we are just as decisively committed to achieving the legitimate aspirations of the Palestine people and only the question of a sovereign, viable Palestinian State – in our view – will enable us to achieve these two objectives.”
9. Various shots, delegates
10. SOUNDBITE (English) David Wright Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs:
“Israelis and Palestinians cannot deliver this deal on their own. Israelis need peace with the whole Arab world as well as cooperation with the Palestinians. Palestinians need support from the Arab world as well as compromise from Israel. This is the twenty-three state solution that we need and is embodied in the Arab Peace Initiative, which is finally getting the recognition that it deserves.”
11. Med shot, Rice walks to the microphone
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Elizabeth Rice, United States Ambassador to the United Nations:
“This is an important moment; the United States is firmly and unequivocally committed to working towards a two state solution with an Israel and a Palestine living side by side in peace and security. The President, President Obama is personally engaged in this effort and will continue to lead.”
13. Med shot, Mansour walks to the microphone
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Representative to the United Nations from Palestine:
“We know what the solution is. When we talk about two states, it is a Palestinian State to be next to Israel on the borders of 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital; a just solution to the refugee question and of course the removal of the settlements and all of the obstacles and the illegal things done by Israel as an occupying power.”
15. Med shot, cameras
16. Wide shot, conference dais
17. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Sergey V. Lavrov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation:
“I was pleasantly surprised to see that all Security Council members very clearly talked about making the Arab initiative one of the cornerstones of the future settlement. I draw attention to the point that Mrs. Rice made that the Arab Peace Initiative will be organically incorporated into the Middle East policy of President Obama. We support this kind of dealing with reality”
18. Various shots, Lavrov meeting Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Addressing a ministerial level Security Council meeting on the Middle East, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today (11 May) that after the “inconclusive results” of last year’s negotiations, and the ensuing bloodshed in Gaza, “the last three months witnessed almost no progress” on the two key resolutions recently adopted by the Security Council.
The Secretary-General stressed the need to generate “direction and momentum” in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, warning that the situation on the ground could worsen easily without fresh efforts by both sides as well as the international community.
Ban told today’s meeting, chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, that the two parties “need confidence that the process will address their vital interests”, as well as “confidence that commitments made will be commitments monitored and commitments kept”.
The Security Council, in the two resolutions adopted earlier this year, called for a durable and fully respected ceasefire, prevention of the illicit supply of weapons to Gaza; reopening of the crossings in accordance with the Agreement on Movement and Access; and progress on Palestinian reconciliation under the legitimate Palestinian Authority.
French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner said that efforts need to be stepped up in order “to facilitate a resumption of political negotiations” towards a comprehensive settlement. He stressed that “the existence and security of Israel are not negotiable” but pointed out that “achieving the legitimate aspirations of the Palestine people” is equally important.
British Secretary of State David Miliband told that Council that “Israelis and Palestinians cannot deliver this deal on their own” voicing support for the Arab Peace Initiative which he said calls for a “twenty-three state solution” which includes Israel Arab neighbours, and “is finally getting the recognition that it deserves”
In a presidential statement read out by Mr. Lavrov at the end of today’s meeting, the Council stressed the urgency of reaching comprehensive peace in the Middle East. It stated that “vigorous diplomatic action is needed to attain the goal set by the international community – lasting peace in the region, based on an enduring commitment to mutual recognition, freedom from violence, incitement and terror, and the two-State solution, building upon previous agreements and obligations”.
Outside the Council, US Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters that “the United States is firmly and unequivocally committed to working towards a two state solution with an Israel and a Palestine living side by side in peace and security” and that President Barack Obama is “personally engaged in this effort and will continue to lead”.
Obama will soon host the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and key regional parties in Washington. He also expected that the Middle East Quartet – comprising the UN, European Union, Russia and US – will meet soon.
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said that a viable Palestinian State should revert to “the borders of 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital”.
At an afternoon press conference Lavrov told reporters that he was “pleasantly surprised” that Security Council members “very clearly talked about making the Arab initiative one of the cornerstones of the future settlement”.
The Council also voiced support for Russia’s proposal to convene, in consultation with the Quartet and the parties, an international conference on the Middle East peace process in Moscow in 2009.
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