UN / AMOS OPT

Humanitarian Coordinator Valerie Amos today expressed concern over "higher levels of settler violence" and proposals for additional settlements "that would cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.” UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:15
• Production Date: 18 January 2012
• Asset Language: Original
• Subject Topical: POLITICAL AFFAIRS; LAW; INTERNATIONAL LAW; POLITICAL CONDITIONS; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; PEACE AND SECURITY; DECOLONIZATION; TRUST TERRITORIES; APARTHEID; HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
• Geographic Subject: ISRAEL
• MAMS Id: U120118a

Description

STORY: UN / AMOS OPT
TRT: 3.15
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 18 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

18 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

2. Med shot, Amos walks up to the stakeout position

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

3. Close up, reporter’s laptop

18 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Ann Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs:
“I alerted the Council to my concerns about particularly the impact of higher levels of settlement violence. We’ve seen an increase in the levels of settler violence which have had an impact on Palestinians, but also has an impact on Israeli settlers as well. And I also alerted the Council in relation to East Jerusalem to my concerns about the proposals for an additional settlement which would cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.”

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

5. Close up, reporters’ notepads

18 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Ann Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs:
“Overall, I think, the whole international community accepts that settlement activity is illegal under international law, and this is certainly the position that was repeated in the Security Council today.”

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

7. Close up, reporter’s laptop

18 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Ann Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs:
“If you look at the five years of the blockade, although we are seeing a slight increase in activity, it is nowhere near the levels of five years ago. So, in terms of for example exports out of Gaza, they have more than halved in the last five years; and if Gaza is going to come off its dependence on humanitarian aid, we need to see economic development and economic activity in Gaza.”

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

9. Close up, reporter’s’ notepad

18 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

10. Zoom out, Amos walks away from the stakeout position

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

11. Close up, reporter’s’ notepad

18 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations:
“The obligation of Israel under the Roadmap stipulates that they have to stop all settlement activities, including the natural growth. What the international community, including the Security Council, is expecting from Israel is to meet its obligations under international law and the Roadmap and to stop all these illegal activities on the settlement front so that the door for the resumptions of negotiation is to take place.”

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

13. Close up, reporter’s laptop

18 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

14. Pan right, Mansour and the ambassadors of Egypt, Morocco and Azerbaijan walk away from the stakeout position

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

15. Close up, reporter’s laptop

18 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

SOUNDBITE (English) Ron Prosor, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations:
“Today the Security Council dealing with, specially, the OCHA report is grinding again and again issues that have no real credence and are not constructive on achieving real peace. Real peace can be achieved in direct negotiations on the serious issues that the Palestinian leadership is not addressing. You want to hear what is the major hurdle to peace? The major hurdle to peace is the Palestinian’s quest for the right of return. That is the major hurdle to peace.”

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

16. Close up, reporter’s laptop

18 JANUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

17. Pan right, Prosor walks away from the stakeout position

Storyline

The United Nations (UN) top humanitarian official briefed the Security Council today (18 January) behind closed doors on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Gaza, including the effects of illegal Israeli settlements on the population.

After the briefing, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Ann Amos told reporters that she had alerted the Council on her concerns about “an increase in the levels of settler violence” which she said “have had an impact on Palestinians, but also has an impact on Israeli settlers as well.”

She said that she had also alerted the Council about proposals for an additional settlement “which would cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.”

According to the latest report on the impact of Israeli settlement policies from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), since 1967, Israel has established about 150 settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in addition to some 100 “outposts” erected by settlers without official authorization.

The settler population is estimated at approximately 500,000

Amos stressed that “the whole international community accepts that settlement activity is illegal under international law.”

On the recent closing of the Karni commercial crossing into Gaza, she noted that, exports out of Gaza have ”more than halved” in the five years of the Gaza blockade, and pointed out that if “Gaza is going to come off its dependence on humanitarian aid, we need to see economic development and economic activity in Gaza.”

According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) the private sector in Gaza continues to be badly affected by the restrictions on exports. While the informal economy provided for wider imports, the blockade continues to restrict exports, which currently stand at just over 3 per cent of pre-blockade levels, preventing sustainable economic growth.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour, accompanied by the representatives of Egypt, Morocco and Azerbaijan, told reporters that the international community, including the Security Council, expects Israel to meet its obligations under international law and must “stop all these illegal activities on the settlement front” so that a resumption of negotiations can take place.

Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor for his part complained that the Security Council “is grinding again and again issues that have no real credence and are not constructive on achieving real peace.”

He said that “real peace can be achieved in direct negotiations on the serious issues that the Palestinian leadership is not addressing”, adding that “the major hurdle to peace is the Palestinian’s quest for the right of return.”

The ‘right of return’ refers to the over four million Palestinians living in refugee communities scattered around the Middle East. Palestinians assert that those who fled or were displaced during the Israeli-Arab wars in 1948 and 1967, as well as their descendents, have a right to return to what was once Palestine, including land which is now Israel.