NEW YORK: In his final briefing as the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov’s words vividly encapsulated the epic tragedies that have unfolded during decades of struggle.

“Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs have lived with conflict for too long,” the envoy told the UN Security Council on Monday. “Loss and displacement are part of the personal history of every single household.”

The harsh realities the Palestinian people face have been exacerbated of late by a severe, $88 million gap in funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This raised fears that the agency might have to suspend the life-saving services it provides to refugees across the region, including health care and education.

The organization has been scrambling for funds since US President Donald Trump announced in August 2018 that his administration had “stopped massive amounts of money that we were paying to the Palestinians.” The move reversed a policy adopted for the past 70 years by every US president, Republican and Democrat, at the heart of which lies the fundamental American value of helping the world’s most vulnerable peoples.

“The agency is not only a lifeline for millions of Palestine refugees, and fully engaged in the fight against COVID-19, but it is also critical for regional stability,” Mladenov told the Security Council.

He renewed his appeal for proper funding of UNRWA, highlighting the alarming fact that 2.45 million Palestinians, about 47 percent of the population, are in need of aid simply to survive. The money would help to pay for the secular education of half a million Palestinian children, in addition to vaccinations and health clinics that care for more than three million stateless refugees who have nowhere else to turn for help.

Some donors, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Canada, have stepped in with increased contributions to offset part of what the US has cut, but not enough to remove the risk that UNRWA might have to reduce the services it provides.

Mladenov’s briefing covered developments during the period Nov. 21 to Dec. 10, during which violence continued. In particular, he highlighted ongoing incidents of Palestinian children being killed at the hands of Israeli security forces.

“I am appalled that children continue to be victims — with a particularly troubling series of incidents over the past month in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” he said. “Children should not be the target of violence or put in harm’s way.”

He urged both Israeli and Palestinian authorities to carry out “impartial and prompt” investigations into all allegations of excessive use of force. He reiterated that “security forces must exercise maximum restraint and may use lethal force only when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.”

UN watchdogs and civil-society organizations have documented 155 cases since 2013 of Palestinian children killed by Israeli soldiers using live ammunition or crowd-control weapons. In only three of the cases were criminal charges filed, and they were later dropped in one of them.
 

Mladenov also called on Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other militants to immediately halt “the indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars toward Israeli civilian population centers.”

In response to continuing instances of Gaza courts handing down death sentences, in violation of Palestinian law, the envoy urged Hamas to order “an immediate moratorium on executions and cease the use of military tribunals to try civilians.”

He also expressed concern about “continued settler-related violence in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.” He urged Israeli authorities to abide by international law, protect Palestinians from violence by Israeli settlers and ensure that farmers can access their land freely and safely.

Mladenov’s report also covered the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2334. Adopted in December 2016, it states that Israeli settlements violate international law and calls for an end to such activity.

One of the major impediments to a two-state solution, the envoy said, remains the advancement by the Israeli government of “controversial settlement plans that had been frozen for years” in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

“The advancement of all settlement activity must cease immediately,” Mladenov added, because it constitutes a “flagrant violation” of UN resolutions and international law.

He said he is also “deeply concerned” by the continued seizures and demolitions of Palestinian schools and buildings used for humanitarian projects.

“I call on Israeli authorities to end the demolition of Palestinian property and the displacement and eviction of Palestinians,” he added.

Mladenov ended on a hopeful note with an appeal for peace. He said that this remains an achievable aim that can be successfully mediated by the Quartet on the Middle East (comprising the UN, the US, the EU and Russia) and its Arab partners who, along with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, “must work together to return to the path of meaningful negotiations.”

“The world cannot leave the situation unattended” he added, reiterating the global consensus on the two-state solution: “No one in the international community questions the foundation that any resolution … must be based on two states and requires engagement between the parties and not through violence.”

Both sides must “look inward (to) protect the goal of sustainable peace,” he said.

Mladenov was appointed to his role as special coordinator in February 2015. He will step down in January, after being named the new UN envoy for Libya.

Norwegian veteran diplomat Tor Wennesland will take over from Mladenov, who described his successor as “one of the most capable diplomats I have ever worked with.”