The main United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees reported today that Israeli forces left significant damage behind after occupying two schools in the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank town of Nablus earlier this week. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said it had compiled a list of damages, including broken doors and windows as well as waste materials left in the schools. Agency officials plan to discuss the issue with the Israeli Foreign Ministry. UNRWA reported on Monday that Israeli forces had occupied two schools it runs in the camps and blocked a health clinic, which prevented patients or staff from leaving the building. Read more about UN agency aiding Palestinians says Israeli forces left behind damage in schools 

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today said victories by religious parties in recent elections in the Middle East were more an indication of interest in effective government than a rejection of secular rule. In New York, Mr. Annan was asked by reporters about the success of Hamas in the Palestinian elections, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and religious parties in Iraq. He said the trend was not a total rejection of secular movements or a swing to Islamic parties. “I think, if the regimes in power were seen to be delivering, were seen to be close to the people,” he said. Read more about Annan says victories by Islamic movements in the Middle East show yearning for effective government 

Improving infrastructure, gaining greater access to markets and diversifying economic activity are among the measures recommended in a United Nations report issued today aimed at helping to alleviate the economic hardship faced by Palestinians in the West Bank. The report, issued by the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, says that “since 2000 a progressive fragmentation of established patterns of economic activity has taken place in the West Bank, involving the breakdown of relations with Israel, between districts and between urban and rural economies.” In particular, the report focuses on the “negative economic impact on all communities near it” of the construction by Israel of a separation barrier. Read more about Measures needed to alleviate economic hardship in the West Bank – UN report 

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today congratulated Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian people on the peaceful and orderly conduct of their legislative elections. “The Secretary-General views these elections as an important step toward the achievement of a Palestinian State,” a UN spokesman said in a statement. “He looks forward to the publication of the results of the elections over the coming days and to discussing them with the Quartet.” In Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Annan, responding to press questions about the developments in the Palestinian legislative elections, said that “any group that wishes to participate in the democratic process should ultimately disarm.” Read more about Annan congratulates Palestinian people on peaceful and orderly elections 

Looking to next week’s Palestinian legislative elections, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged all those eligible to participate and voiced hope that this milestone will set the stage for peace and Statehood. “You deserve a free, fair and peaceful election,” Mr. Annan said in a message to the Palestinian people released in New York. “Your electoral commission is doing outstanding work under difficult circumstances.” He stressed that action at the ballot box will help set the course for the future, encouraged all to vote on 25 January and pledged that the UN “will remain steadfastly committed to helping you to achieve a state of your own.” Read more about Annan urges Palestinians to vote in upcoming elections 

With only 10 days left before the expiration of the original deadline of the Middle East Diplomatic Quartet’s so-called Road Map peace plan for a final and settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a top United Nations official stressed today that the plan is still the agreed framework for reaching a lasting peace in the Middle East. “This is surely an occasion for all parties to reflect on what more they can do to ensure that Road Map obligations are met,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari told the Security Council, in his regular monthly briefing, regarding the plan sponsored by the Quartet consisting of the UN, European Union, United States and Russia. Read more about "Road map" will miss deadline, UN envoy 

The “window of opportunity” to revitalize the Middle East peace process that opened during the past year is still ajar, but the setbacks include Israel’s building of the separation barrier and the Palestinian Authority’s failure to help restore law and order, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan says in his latest report. Noting the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank in September, he says, “I would like to commend Prime Minister Sharon’s political courage and steady commitment to disengagement. I would also like to commend the Palestinian Authority for its responsible behaviour during this period, in facilitating a smooth and peaceful operation.” Read more about Annan: Barrier, settlements and security challenge two-State Israeli-Palestinian solution 

Increased aid to Palestinian refugees would contribute to stability and hope in the Middle East even as a final, just and practical solution to the problem is sought with renewed vigour after recent positive developments, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today. “Recent developments in the region, particularly the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip, gave rise to new hope that the peace process could be put back on track,” Mr. Annan told the hosts and donors of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main organization for humanitarian aid to those refugees, at their meeting in Amman Jordan. That had not yet happened, he noted, saying that all interested parties must try to ensure that this period of hope does not end, as others had, in bitter disappointment. Read more about Annan calls for increased aid to organization that assists Palestinian refugees 

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the other principles of the Diplomatic Quartet today consulted on the latest violence in the Middle East, condemning Wednesday’s terrorist attack in Israel claimed by the Damascus-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad and calling on Syria to take immediate action against the group. In a separate statement, Secretary-General Kofi Annan voiced deep concern at the further escalation of violence in the past 24 hours in the Middle East, deploring action taken in Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza on Wednesday. Read more about Secretary-General deeply concerned by escalating Middle East violence