United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has repeatedly called for a halt to Israel’s settlement construction, has condemned its announcement that it is building 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem.

Women grass-roots activists should be given more clout in forming policies at both the local and international levels, speakers said today at a Headquarters press conference on the role of women food producers and their coping strategies in times of severe food insecurity.

The Secretary-General addressed a Panel on Violence against Women this morning and said that women’s empowerment is central to all of the Millennium Development Goals. Freedom from fear and violence is a precondition for this empowerment. He said the United Nations must have the resources it needs to pursue this goal with the urgency it deserves.

There had been no change of policy since 2007 on Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and as a consequence, reconstruction activities in the enclave had barely started, the top United Nations humanitarian official said at Headquarters today.

The Secretary-General will be travelling to Haiti this Sunday on a one-day visit to assess conditions on the ground. This will be the Secretary-General’s second visit to Haiti since the tragic earthquake of 12 January. He will meet with Haitian President [René] Préval and Prime Minister [Jean-Max] Bellerive, as well as with the leadership of MINUSTAH [the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti] and the UN country team.

The Secretary-General returned in the early hours of this morning from a visit yesterday to Haiti, where he met with President René Préval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive in Port-au-Prince and he also visited a camp for displaced people in Petionville. Speaking after his meeting with the President, the Secretary-General praised the Haitian people for their courage and sense of solidarity in these difficult times.

The Secretary-General has arrived in Moscow, where he will participate in the meeting of the Middle East Quartet on Friday. He is scheduled to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, among other senior officials.

The Secretary-General condemned today’s rocket attack from Gaza which killed a civilian in Israel, saying all such acts of terror and violence against civilians are totally unacceptable and contrary to international law.

The Secretary-General met with the other principal members of the Quartet in Moscow today. Following their meeting, he read out a joint statement on behalf of all the Quartet principals. The Quartet welcomed the readiness to launch proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and emphasized that the circumstances which made it possible to agree to launch those talks be respected.