UN / PALESTINE
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STORY: UN / PALESTINE
TRT: 02:22
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 26 MAY 2017, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
26 MAY 2017, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council members standing in moment of silence for victims of attack in Egypt
3. Med shot, Egyptian ambassador standing in moment of silence for victims of attack in Egypt
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations:
“In Gaza we are walking into another crisis with our eyes wide open. I am today warning the Security Council that unless urgent measures are taken to de-escalate, the crisis risks spiralling out of control with devastating consequences for Palestinians and Israelis alike.”
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations:
“Since April the majority of Palestinians in Gaza are receiving about four hours of electricity per day. How long do you think they can survive if this is further reduced to two hours of electricity per day? Who will pay the price of the ensuing violence and escalation? It will not be those who live a life of exemptions and privilege; the price will be paid by poor Palestinians, by women and children, by people already traumatized by conflict, who have been held hostage for a decade now.”
7. Med shot, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations:
“No one has interest in another conflict in Gaza and everyone has a responsibility to avoid it. For months, the United Nations has warned that without addressing the structural problems of Gaza's electricity supply we would face a humanitarian crisis. Those warnings are now a reality.”
9. Med shot, monitors showing Mladenov addressing Security Council via teleconference
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations:
“Reports of punitive measures against the hunger strikers, including restricted access to lawyers and the denial of family visits are alarming. The right of detainees to access a lawyer is a right that should never be curtailed. I call for a re-doubling of efforts to end the strike as soon as possible. The crisis must be resolved in line with International Humanitarian Law and Israel's human rights obligations.”
11. Wide shot, Security Coucnil
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations:
“Gaza faces a downward spiral of de-development. The widening socio-economic gap between Gaza and the West Bank further highlights the need to end the drivers of this inhumane and volatile situation. Deteriorating conditions only fuel anger and instability, strengthen extremists and undermine chances for a serious political process.”
13. Zoom out, Security Council
The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, said “ we are walking into another crisis with our eyes wide open” in Gaza warning the Security Council that unless “urgent measures are taken to de-escalate, the crisis risks spiralling out of control with devastating consequences for Palestinians and Israelis alike.”
Addressing the Council via teleconference from Jerusalem today (26 May), Mladenov said the humanitarian crisis in Gaza which risks exploding into another conflict could only begin to be resolved by compromise, by the implementation of intra-Palestinian agreements and an ending of the closures to the Strip. He said the Palestinian Government reduced salary allowances to nearly 60,000 public sector employees in Gaza which is also in the midst of an unprecedented energy crisis due to a dispute between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas over taxation on fuel, technical issues with supply lines from Egypt. He said the Government’s decision to cap its purchases of electricity from Israel would further reduce supply to Gaza by some 30 percent which would plunge its population into a humanitarian catastrophe. Mladenov stressed that “no one has interest in another conflict in Gaza and everyone has a responsibility to avoid it.” He said, “For months, the United Nations has warned that without addressing the structural problems of Gaza's electricity supply we would face a humanitarian crisis. Those warnings are now a reality.”
Mladenov said the energy crisis in Gaza has forced hospitals to postpone elective surgeries and reduce cleaning, catering and sterilization services by 80 percent. Drinking water is being supplied for a few hours every two to four days as desalination plants are functioning at 15 percent of capacity since mid-April while food prices are soaring as the price of water for irrigation has gone up by 65 percent. He noted that defusing the current energy crisis would require compromise on all sides, including tax concessions on fuel for the power plant and profound reform of how energy is supplied in Gaza.
The special coordinator said this summer will mark ten years since the 2007 Hamas violent take-over of the Gaza Strip. He said the past decade has seen Gaza's infrastructure, basic services and private sector gradually debilitated and its economy weakened with real GDP per capita and employment decreasing, and the gender gap continuing to grow. He said, “Gaza faces a downward spiral of de-development” adding that deteriorating conditions “only fuel anger and instability, strengthen extremists, and undermine chances for a serious political process.”
Mladenov also expressed concern over the ongoing hunger strike by Palestinian detainees protesting against their conditions in Israeli jails, which, on the eve of the Ramadan, has now entered its 40th day. He said reports of punitive measures by Israel against the hunger strikers, including restricted access to lawyers and the denial of family visits are “alarming” adding that yhe right of detainees to access a lawyer “is a right that should never be curtailed.” He stressed that the crisis “must be resolved in line with International Humanitarian Law and Israel's human rights obligations.”
Prior to the meeting, Members of the Security Council held a moment of silence for the victims of the terrorist attack in Egypt which reportedly killed some 28 people, including children, and wounded many others. News reports indicated that masked men attacked a bus in the city of Minya which was carrying Coptic Christians on their way to the Saint Samuel Monastery.