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STORY: UN / MIDDLE EAST
TRT: 2.46
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 MAY 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – 2011, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
29 MAY 2012, NEW YORK
2. Wide shot, Security Council meeting
3. Med shot, delegates
SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Serry, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process:
“We welcome the foresight of both parties that enabled them to reach this agreement, which we hope will continue to be implemented in full. We also commend the important role played by Egypt in brokering the deal. However, we are still concerned about reports about a few prisoners continuing their hunger strike, one of them in critical condition, and hope for a speedy resolution of these cases as well.”
4. Med shot, delegates
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Serry, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process:
“We expect the de facto authorities to extend their full cooperation to enable voter registration in Gaza. We understand that a ten-day period is expected to start simultaneously for the formation of a new transitional technocratic government for the duration of six months. A transitional government, once established, will then prepare for general elections, as well as focus on the reconstruction of Gaza.”
6. Med shot, delegates
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Serry, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process:
“The total value of approved UN works in the Gaza strip involving potential 'dual-use' materials that require Israel's approval now exceeds $365 million, with $96 million worth of projects still under Israeli review. This means UN agencies are now enabled to play a major role in international efforts for priority recovery and reconstruction in Gaza. Much more needs to be done however. The UN continues to urge Israel to allow the unrestricted import of key building materials and particularly aggregate, iron bar and cement - the ABC of Gaza reconstruction, which are now also substantially and illegally imported through tunnels with Egypt.”
8. Med shot, delegates
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Serry, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process:
“The violence and continued killing in Syria continue to be of extreme concern to the Secretary-General and the peaceful resolution of the crisis is a priority focus for the United Nations as a whole.”
10. Med shot, delegates
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Serry, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process:
“I disagree with those who argue the significant change and uncertainty in the region brought about by the Arab awakening means this is not the time for progress. On the contrary, the search for a lasting peace that ends the Arab-Israeli conflict and resolves all claims is in my view more urgent than ever, because after almost 20 years of failed peace making the very viability of a two state solution is at stake. If the parties do not grasp the current opportunity, they should realize the implication is not merely slowing progress toward a two-state solution. Instead, we could be moving down the path toward a one-state reality, which would also move us further away from regional peace in the spirit of the Arab Peace Initiative.”
12. Med shot, delegates
13. Wide shot, end of meeting
The UN envoy for the Middle East peace process today (29 May) gave a cautiously optimistic report to the Security Council on a situation that “could have worsened” in view of developments in the region.
On the Palestinian prisoners’ recent hunger strike, Robert Serry welcomed “the foresight of both parties” in reaching an agreement to end the strike, which he hoped would “continue to be implemented in full”. He added that “we are still concerned about reports about a few prisoners continuing their hunger strike, one of them in critical condition, and hope for a speedy resolution of these cases as well”.
A four-week long hunger strike by more than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners protesting against unjust arrest procedures, arbitrary detention and bad prison conditions ended when Israel and the Palestinian Authority reached an agreement on 14 May, after mediation by Egypt and Jordan. The implementation of the agreement has since been criticized from the Palestinian side as not meeting expectations.
On elections in Gaza, Serry noted that the Palestinian Central Election Commission is in Gaza at the moment and urged the “de facto authorities to extend their full cooperation to enable voter registration in Gaza”. A ten-day period was also expected to start for a new transitional technocratic government to be formed for six months, in order to prepare for general elections and focus on the reconstruction of Gaza.
On the reconstruction of Gaza, Serry reported that more than $365 million worth of UN works involving potential 'dual-use' materials had been approved by Israel for entry into the Gaza strip, while $96 million worth of projects were still under review. He said UN agencies were now able to play a “major role in international efforts for priority recovery and reconstruction in Gaza”, but “much more” needed to be done. He said key building materials such as aggregate, iron bar and cement – “the ABC of Gaza reconstruction”, was still being “substantially and illegally imported through tunnels with Egypt”.
Pointing to other briefings by senior officials to the Security Council this week, Serry expressly did not address the situation in Syria, saying only that “the violence and continued killing in Syria continue to be of extreme concern to the Secretary-General and the peaceful resolution of the crisis is a priority focus for the United Nations as a whole.” He also noted that despite the Lebanese government's efforts to maintain a “policy of 'disassociation' from the situation in Syria”, a number of incidents had heightened concerns over the impact of the crisis on Lebanon.
The envoy closed by saying that he did not agree with those who argued that the turmoil gripping the region since the Arab Spring meant that this was not the time for progress on the peace process. “On the contrary”, he said, the search for a lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and a resolution of all claims was “more urgent than ever, because after almost 20 years of failed peace making the very viability of a two state solution is at stake”.
Serry warned that the if the parties did not grasp the current opportunity, this would not merely slow progress towards a two-state solution, but “instead, we could be moving down the path toward a one-state reality, which would also move us further away from regional peace in the spirit of the Arab Peace Initiative.”
