A United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine has called on the international community to adopt measures to persuade Israel to dismantle a separation barrier it is building on occupied Palestinian territory and to make reparations for all damages caused by its construction. The two-day meeting, which ended yesterday in Geneva, called for Israeli compliance with international law and last year’s advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the construction of a wall, which Israel says it is building for security reasons, is illegal where it runs on occupied territory and should be torn down. Read more about World must persuade Israel to tear down barrier on Palestinian land – UN meeting 

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has discussed with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the importance of freedom of movement in occupied Palestinian lands in improving the economy, an essential pillar in securing peace with Israel. In a speech to the session Mr. Annan cited economic development as “the third pillar of the progress we hope to see,” side by side with governance and security, noting that without real and discernible change such as more jobs and the removal of Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks, the Palestinian economy will continue to struggle, sowing prolonged, pervasive despair among the Palestinian populace. Read more about Secretary-General discusses shattered Palestinian economy 

Citing a moment of “promise and potential” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called for global support for an independent, democratic Palestinian state and pledged the world body’s readiness to help in the three main areas of governance, security and economic development. “The sense of expectation is palpable. There is a real feeling that, after long years of suffering, bitterness and despair, better days may lie ahead,” he told an international meeting in London in support of the Palestinian Authority. “At long last, we can all sense a new wave of movement. I urge everyone to engage, do the hard work and turn today’s opening into a real end to the conflict.” Read more about Citing ‘promise and potential,’ Annan pledges support for Middle East peace moves 

Palestinian women are suffering massively from malnutrition, especially when they are pregnant and nursing, and have high rates of poverty as widowed heads of household, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a new report to a UN women’s rights panel. The UN World Health Organization (WHO) says that during a home visit programme in the period under review, October 2003 to September 2004, “69.7 per cent of 1,768 expectant women, within one month of delivery, were found to be anaemic,” Mr. Annan’s report to the Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) says. Read more about Palestinian women experience major poverty induced by loss of spouses, UN says 

The establishment of a United Nations register of the damage Israel’s construction of a separation barrier is causing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank moved a step closer today when Secretary-General Kofi Annan forwarded a letter to the General Assembly setting out a framework and the next moves for its creation. The General Assembly called for the registry last summer after demanding that Israel comply with an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which called the barrier illegal and called for it to be torn down when it was built on West Bank land. Read more about UN registry of damage to Palestinians from Israeli barrier moves step closer 

Following a two-day offensive by Israeli forces into the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, the main United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees has opened one of its schools to provide temporary accommodation to 600 families displaced by the fighting. UNRWA immediately served the families hot meals and water in addition to providing mattresses, blankets and mats. Meanwhile as Christmas approaches in Bethlehem, two UN bodies have published a report on the devastating impact that Israeli policies have had on the little hilltop town. Read more about UN school shelters 600 Gaza families displaced by Israeli offensive 

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today met with fellow members of the so-called diplomatic Quartet seeking to bring peace to the Middle East and told reporters afterwards he believed the time was now ripe to move ahead with a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after four years of violence in the region.”We are all encouraged by what is happening,” Mr. Annan said in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, after talks with top officials of the European Union, Russia and the United States, the three other sponsors of the Road Map plan calling for parallel and reciprocal steps by both sides leading to two States living in peace by the end of 2005. Read more about Annan voices hope for movement in Middle East peace process 

Announcing that today’s briefing to the Security Council would be his last in his capacity as Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, Terje Roed-Larsen delivered a message to the opponents of Middle East peace: “It is time to wrest control from them and to take charge. The need to act could not be any clearer.” In the regular monthly briefing to the Council on the Middle East situation, Mr. Roed-Larsen said that, with the passing of Yasser Arafat last week, a political titan had passed away, a giant — for friend and foe alike — had left the world political scene. Read more about UN envoy: "The need to act could not be any clearer" 

Reacting to the death of President Yasser Arafat, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today said President Arafat will always be remembered for having led the Palestinians, back in 1988, to accept the principle of peaceful coexistence between Israel and a future Palestinian state. “By signing the Oslo accords in 1993 he took a giant step towards the realization of this vision,” a spokesman for Mr. Annan said in a statement issued in New York. “It is tragic that he did not live to see it fulfilled.” Read more about Arafat to be recalled for leading Palestinians to accept principle of coexistence with Israel -- Annan 

The Fourth committee met this afternoon to continue its consideration of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Speakers continued to express strong support for the humanitarian work of UNRWA and called for the alleviation of its budgetary problems. Many speakers also called on Israel to cease from measures which, they said, constricted the Agency’s ability to move staff and provide assistance. The representative of Bangladesh said that those measures resulted from a policy of collective punishment, including unprecedented destruction of homes and property, curfews, incursions, restrictions of movement and denial of humanitarian access. Read more about UN General Assembly expresses support for UNRWA's work, calls for adequate funding