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STORY: UN / MIDDLE EAST
TRT: 3.02
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 19 JUNE 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – 2011, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
19 JUNE 2012, NEW YORK
2. Wide shot, Security Council meeting
3. Med shot, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs:
“Let me reiterate that all settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem, whether on private land or elsewhere, is in violation of international law as well as of Israel's road map commitments, and it makes the two-state solution all the more difficult to achieve.”
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs:
“We note that the Israeli government has condemned this desecration and vowed to use all means necessary to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The United Nations condemns this flagrant act against a Muslim holy site and calls upon the Israeli government to protect Palestinian individuals and property.”
7. Med shot, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs:
“We continue to condemn all indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel which must stop. We also urge Israel to show maximum restraint. We are also concerned about serious security incidents over the weekend in the vicinity of the Israeli-Egyptian border.”
9. Med shot, delegates
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs:
“The Secretary-General remains gravely concerned about the intensification of violence and rising death toll as well as continued human rights abuses and unmet humanitarian needs. The situation in Horns is particularly alarming. The tragic human suffering resulting from the escalating conflict calls for urgent and concerted efforts to avoid a full-scale civil war. Time is running out.”
11. Med shot, delegates
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs:
“Due to the increase in fighting, there are now well over one million people in need inside Syria. The number of assisted refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey has reached 86,000 and continues to rise. The Secretary-General calls on the Government of Syria and opposition groups to facilitate access of humanitarian organisations to all those in need.”
13. Med shot, delegates
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs:
“The Secretary-General continues to follow events in Egypt closely. He looks forward to the early handover of full authority to a civilian government. He underscores his concern that the country's transition should meet the legitimate expectations of the Egyptian people and of the international community for the establishment of strong, representative, democratic institutions and for the popular will to be respected - both in the elections and in the drafting of a new Constitution.”
15. Med shot, Syrian delegate
16. Wide shot, end of meeting
A senior UN official today (19 June) updated the Security Council on worrying developments in the Middle East since the last, more upbeat briefing by the Secretariat three weeks ago.
Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco said he was “worried” that confidence-building measures to sustain the “quiet and informal” talks that had previously helped defuse potentially destabilizing events on the ground had not happened, challenging the positive environment between the parties. He said the latest announcements by Israel regarding West Bank settlements were an added setback.
Fernandez-Taranco stressed that “all settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem, whether on private land or elsewhere, is in violation of international law as well as of Israel's road map commitments”, adding that it made a two-state solution “all the more difficult to achieve”.
On the spray painting and burning of a mosque near Ramallah early this morning, he condemned this “flagrant act against a Muslim holy site”, which was linked to the Israeli decision to evacuate the Ulpana outpost near the settlement of Beit El. He noted that the Israeli government too had condemned the desecration, and he urged it to bring the perpetrators to justice and protect Palestinian individuals and property.
The Assistant-Secretary-General also reported that the relative calm in Gaza was disrupted this month with 15 rockets and 27 mortar shells being fired into Israel and Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killing nine Palestinian militants and injuring two dozen people.
He also said there was concern about “serious security incidents” over the weekend near the Israeli-Egyptian border, where two rockets were shot from Sinai into southern Israel, and militants attacked Israeli workers constructing the security fence on the border, killing one of them. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) exchanged fire with the militants and killed two.
On Syria, Fernandez-Taranco said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was “gravely concerned” about the intensification of violence and rising death toll as well as continued human rights abuses and unmet humanitarian needs, pointing to the “particularly alarming” situation in Horns. He warned that “time is running out” to avoid full-scale civil war.
He reported that “well over one million people” inside Syria now needed humanitarian assistance. The number of assisted refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey had reached 86,000 and continued to rise.
He said the Secretary-General called on the Government of Syria and opposition groups to facilitate access of humanitarian organisations, which are scaling up activities and have reached over 400,000 people in the first ten days of this month. But access, he said, was still limited and the gap between what is needed and what is provided remained far too wide.
On Egypt, Fernandez-Taranco told delegates that the Secretary-General looked forward to the early handover of full authority to a civilian government, and called for the country's transition to “meet the legitimate expectations of the Egyptian people and of the international community for the establishment of strong, representative, democratic institutions and for the popular will to be respected - both in the elections and in the drafting of a new Constitution”.
