The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene a United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine on 22 and 23 July 2009 at the United Nations Office at Geneva. The theme of the Meeting is “Responsibility of the international community to uphold international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in the wake of the war in Gaza”.

The head of the United Department of Public Information today opened the seventeenth International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East, urging Israelis, Palestinians and the wider international community, particularly journalists, to support the world body’s ongoing efforts to help the parties arrive at a just and lasting solution.

The seventeenth International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East concluded today, as the head of the United Nations Department of Public Information encouraged journalists to do more to expand the public dialogue about the situation in that region and to help bridge the divides that separated Israelis and Palestinians.

This statement was issued today by the bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on the situation in occupied East Jerusalem:

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People today recommended adoption by the General Assembly of four draft resolutions concerning its work, the work of the Division for Palestinian Rights and of the Department of Public Information regarding the question of Palestine as well as the peaceful settlement of that question.

The Palestinian Rights Committee will hold a special meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at 10 a.m. on Monday, 30 November 2009, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 32/40 B of 2 December 1977.

As the United Nations observed the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern that talks between Israel’s Prime Minister and the Palestinian President on a two-State solution had been suspended for almost a year.

Following is the statement by the Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on Israel’s settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem:

The creation of a Palestinian State coexisting in peace and security alongside Israel required more engagement by mediators of a “revitalized” Middle East Quartet –- the United States, Russian Federation, European Union and the United Nations –- as well as the active contribution of the Palestinian Rights Committee, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

Under the theme “The urgency of addressing the permanent status issues -- borders, Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, water”, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean will convene the International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace at the Dolmen Hotel in Qawra, Malta, on 12 and 13 February.