Israeli aerial attacks on Gaza, Palestinian instituions in Jerusalem – Daily press briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for SecGen (excerpts)

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

AND THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, and Janos Tisovszky, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

/…

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Today, Israeli airplanes attacked Palestinian positions in the Occupied Territory of Gaza, killed two people.  Yesterday, they killed four people.  Has the Secretary-General taken note of that and reacted to that?  And the other thing that I wanted to ask about the Palestinian situation:  there was agreement that was made following the Annapolis talks between Israel and Palestinians that the Orient House in Jerusalem will be opened.  But it has been closed back again.  Does the Secretariat have any response to that?

Associate Spokesperson:  I don’t have any comment on the Orient House issue, which is one of those that is being dealt with bilaterally between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.  As for the air attacks, the Secretary-General has repeatedly made it clear that he wants a halt both to the rocket attacks made by Palestinians against parts of Israel, such as Sderot, and to the attacks against the Palestinian civilian population.  And he continues to make that argument.

Question:  But the Orient House –- I just wanted to point out that the agreement -– and the United Nations is also party to the Quartet peace talks and the Annapolis talks, they were party to it.  He does not have anything to say about that?

Associate Spokesperson:  Not about the implementation at this stage.  The Quartet continues to monitor this, and the Secretary-General in his role as the member of the Quartet continues to be in touch with his other Quartet counterparts, but we would let you know the next time the Quartet speaks out on this matter.

/…

* *** *

For information media • not an official record