Israel-Palestinian relations face 'dangerous deterioration'
The top UN Mideast envoy said yesterday that the world is witnessing a potentially dangerous deterioration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with an increase in violence and a growing Palestinian fiscal crisis that could lead to soaring poverty.
Alvaro de Soto said the dispute between the new Hamas-run Palestinian government which refuses to recognise Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas whose Fatah Party recognises the Jewish state escalated to a point over the weekend where Hamas accused Fatah of a “plot” to overthrow the government and Fatah accused Hamas supporters of inciting civil war.
“After protest marches and clashes between Fatah and Hamas supporters at the weekend, efforts are under way to ease tensions between the Hamas-led government and Fatah,” he told the UN Security Council.
But de Soto warned that political strife, non-payment of salaries to more than 150,000 Palestinian government employees including 70,000 members of the security forces, Israel’s closure of border crossings, and “military pressure … make for a potent and volatile brew”.
“We are witnessing a potentially dangerous deterioration of the situation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he said. “Lawlessness, already endemic, is worsening amid uncertainties concerning command and control of the security forces … and signs of a struggle, still unresolved, between the presidency and the new government.”
De Soto said three major challenges must be addressed – stabilising the security environment, meeting the basic needs of the Palestinian people, and addressing “the new reality” that the Palestinians and Israelis are on different trajectories than they were in 2003 when four key international players drew up a roadmap to Mideast peace.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has invited the quartet that drafted the roadmap – the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia - to a meeting at UN headquarters on May 9 to discuss these issues.
Security Council members said they will wait for the outcome of the quartet meeting before considering any statements.
To stabilise security, de Soto called on Hamas to condemn last week’s suicide bombing in Tel Aviv – which it has so far refused to do – and to take firm measures to prevent future bombings and rocket attacks against Israel. He also called for closer co-ordination among the security bodies now jockeying for control of Palestinian security forces.
Israel must also heed the secretary-general’s call “to ensure that its military actions are proportionate and … do not endanger the civilian population, as several attacks did during the month”, he said.
De Soto warned that UN and voluntary organisations cannot “fill the void that would be created were the Palestinian Authority no longer able to provide the vital services that it delivers now”. He also said it was ”highly questionable” whether the Palestinian Authority should be supplanted in providing basic services.
“The United Nations will continue to work with all concerned to try to find ways to ensure that the needs of the Palestinians are met,” de Soto said.
As for the roadmap, he said prospects for its vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living together in peace, have receded as a result of Hamas’ “radical departure” from previous Palestinian acceptance of Israel, and Israel’s settlement expansion and barrier which deviate from the 1967 borders, “raising serious concerns whether it will ever be possible to achieve a viable and contiguous Palestinian state”.
“We must deal with the new situation with the right mixture of firm adherence to basic principles and creativity to meet a rapidly evolving reality,” de Soto said.
Meanwhile, the militant Islamic Hamas has threatened to scrap a truce with Israel if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas moves on his warning to dismiss the month-old Hamas-led government.
Abbas demanded on Sunday that Hamas recognise Israel and agree to peace talks to avert a financial disaster that could bring a food shortage because of the West’s aid cut-off.
The public warning further heightened tensions between Hamas and Abbas, who heads the Fatah Party defeated by Hamas in January elections. Abbas, elected separately, has been trying to trim the powers of new Cabinet.
In an interview broadcast yesterday on CNN-Turk, Abbas said: ”The constitution gives me clear and definite authority to remove a government from power, but I don’t want to use this authority. Everyone should know that by law this power is in my hands.”
Hamas reacted angrily, threatening to call off a 15-month truce brokered by Abbas that greatly reduced Israeli-Palestinian violence after five years of bloodshed.
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