Palestinian issues

Following are Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks at the meeting on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, in New York today:

The “historic” and popular uprising led by Palestinian youth now into its second month had brought the Middle East question back to the forefront of the international conversation, the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine told the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People today as it approved four draft texts to be considered by the General Assembly.

A total of 21 donors today announced contributions, or their intention to contribute, to the 2016 budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), as officials urged stable financing for the Agency against a backdrop of expanding crises in the Middle East.

The United Nations must step up its efforts to avoid further bloodshed following an escalation of violence and increased civilian casualties in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, a senior Palestine diplomat said today.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Vitaly I. Churkin (Russian Federation):

BRUSSELS, 8 September — Israeli settlement expansion would kill hope for an agreement towards the establishment of two sovereign States existing side by side peacefully, experts told the International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, which concluded this afternoon.

BRUSSELS, 7 September — Israel was changing the demographic composition on the ground by transferring Jewish settlers into the Occupied Palestinian Territory and driving out Palestinians, experts told the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine this afternoon during its first plenary session.

BRUSSELS, 7 September — Israel’s illegal settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory directly ran counter to its stated objective to realize a two-State solution, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message to the International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, which opened here today.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Rima Khalaf, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, to the International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, held in Brussels from 7 to 8 September:

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: