By NNN-KUNA
United Nations : The UN top humanitarian coordinator told the Security Council that continuing the peace talks on the Middle East would be a waste of time unless the situation on the ground changes.
John Holmes, who visited Gaza, the West Bank and Israel last week, told the council in its monthly briefing on the situation in the Middle East Tuesday that “the current situation in Gaza is not sustainable, and is extremely damaging to the prospects for the current peace process. Only political efforts can change the dynamics”.
Looking at these deteriorating realities on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank, he said, “the disconnect between these realities and the hopes and aims of the continuing peace talks seemed almost total, and indeed risks making a mockery of the readiness of the international community to invest USD 7.7 billion in the economic development of the occupied Palestinian territory”.
“Unless this chasm is bridged quickly, and the humanitarian indicators begin to rise and create some sense of hope for the future, the chances of success in the peace talks may be fatally undermined, no matter how great the sincerity and ingenuity of all concerned.
“And we desperately need those talks to succeed this year. The alternative comforts only the extremists,” he warned.
He said he had read about the separation wall, the Israeli settlements, the permit regime and the access closures, “but that had not prepared me for the visible and tangible reality on the ground”.
The combination of these realities “further threaten the viability of a future Palestinian state,” he stressed.
He said the Israeli blockade resulted, for instance, in the increase of the number of children diagnosed with anaemia by 40 per cent compared to last year.
He added that the Israeli blockade amounts to collective punishment and “does not appear to be having the desired effect either in halting the rockets or weakening Hamas’ position among the people of Gaza”.
“Only those who want to see further radicalization can be happy with the present situation,” he argued.
At the same time, he said Hamas, “which claims to govern the Gaza Strip, must accept its full share of responsibility for the suffering in Gaza” and “must act to stop these rockets immediately”.
To ease the Israeli blockade, he suggested that “arrangements which ensure proper screening for goods passing in both directions through the crossings, to meet Israel’s security concern, should be possible, if necessary with appropriate international support”.
Echoing Holmes, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry also told the council Tuesday that the “Annapolis process can only be sustained by real changes on the ground”.
“We believe a different and more positive strategy for Gaza is a humanitarian, security and strategic imperative, for Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority”.
He noted that in Hamas-controlled Gaza there is a degree of order but the rule of law is “absent. Major changes are taking place outside a legal framework… and the civilian justice system has ceased to function”.
He drew the council’s attention to reports that smuggling continues to be of great concern as “outside militant groups” are now allegedly “gaining a foothold in Gaza”.
“We continue to call on Hamas to live up to the responsibilities it has taken on itself, and to choose the olive branch over the gun,” he said.