Situation in Israel and Gaza, in the OPT – 19 May 2021 Daily Press Briefing – (Excerpts)

19 MAY 2021

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

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Occupied Palestinian Territory

Turning to the situation in Israel and Gaza, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  In a flash appeal, the UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, said today that it urgently seeks $38 million to respond to the immediate needs and to carry out essential emergency interventions in Gaza.  UNRWA said that activities cover an initial 30-day emergency response, from the start of the escalation on 10 May, and will support up to 50,000 individuals seeking safety in 50 designated emergency shelters.

Regarding funding, Mark Lowcock, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator on the ground, Lynn Hastings, hopes to release $14 million from the Humanitarian Fund for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  The Emergency Relief Coordinator called upon donors to accelerate their contributions to the Fund without delay.

He added that the crossings with Gaza need to be opened for the entrance of essential and humanitarian supplies, including fuel and basic services and supplies to help curb the spread of COVID-19 virus.

And the Secretary-General, from his part, said that we are seeing immense human suffering and extensive damage to homes and vital infrastructure in Gaza.  He called on the international community to ensure adequate funding for our humanitarian operations there.

And as a reminder, the Secretary-General will address the General Assembly tomorrow in a special session on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  We will share his remarks with you under embargo as soon as we get them.

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Questions and Answers

Ms. Lederer?

Question:  Thank you very much, Steph.  Does the Secretary-General have any comment on [United States] President [Joseph] Biden’s call to [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu to significantly de-escalate the situation in Gaza and Netanyahu’s recent comment saying that he’s determined to press ahead?

Spokesman:  I’m not going to comment on those comments.  What I will say is what our position is, is that we want to see a stop to the fighting as soon as possible.  We want to see a stop of the fighting immediately.

There needs to be a halt to the aerial attacks, to the rockets, to the artillery strikes going from one side to the other.  Civilians need to be able to live in peace.  We need to get that humanitarian aid into Gaza.

For our part, our Special Coordinator, Tor Wennesland, is actively engaged with all sides on the ground in order to work towards that end.

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Question:  Thank you.  Couple of questions on the situation in the Middle East.  France has come out with a draft Security Council resolution.  How important does the Secretary-General believe it is that the Security Council now speaks with one voice?

Spokesman:  Very.  We think a unified and strong voice from the Security Council actually carries weight, not only in this situation but in other situations of conflict.

Question:  What we’re seeing on the ground, does the Secretary-General believe these are war crimes?

Spokesman:  Our focus right now is on seeing an immediate cessation of hostilities.  I think that will be for all… for others and for different parts of the UN to look at afterwards.

Question:  And what’s the Secretary-General himself been doing?  You’ve talked about what Mr. Wennesland is doing.  I remember covering in 2009, when there was a similar conflict, Ban Ki-moon got on a plane, and he went to Tel Aviv, and he raised issues with the Israeli Government at the time.  Does the Secretary-General feel he should, perhaps, follow the example of his predecessor?

Spokesman:  Each Secretary-General has his own methods of engaging in these types of events, and we will let historians compare and contrast 2009 to 2014 to 2021.  The Secretary-General has been fully engaged and following it very closely.  He’s raised this issue with… in contacts with the Russians, with the Americans, with the King of Jordan, with the Palestinians, with the Israelis soon.  But he has really empowered his man on the ground, Tor Wennesland, to engage in very, very active diplomacy in order to bring about an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Question:  Sorry.  Very quick follow-up because you said with the Israelis soon.

Spokesman:  Yes.

Question:  Are you saying that the Secretary-General in all of this period of bombardment by Israel and rockets from Gaza has not spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister?

Spokesman:  There has been no direct contact with the Secretary-General and Mr. Netanyahu…

Question:  Why not?

Spokesman:  Because the… it is… we are doing what we feel would be the most efficient in order to get to where we are, and that is the diplomacy on the ground, the contacts that are being had on the ground.

Betul?

Question:  So, just a follow-up on James’ question, we were told that the US does not support the French initiative to circulate this draft resolution.  What is your reaction?  There is, obviously, no unity in the Security Council… [cross talk]

Spokesman:  No, the fact that there is no unity is a fact.  The fact that we would like to see unity is our position.  The Council is the master of its domain.  The Council members will debate, and they will act accordingly.  I mean, I… we can’t tell them what to do.  We can… we’ve expressed what we would like to see but…

Célhia?

Question:  To follow-up on James’ and Betul’s questions, do you really think that the Secretary-General is doing enough to stop that war?  Because Kofi Annan himself went in 1998 to Iraq and stopped the war that was coming.  So, is he doing enough?

Spokesman:  Listen, I’m not going to compare the situation in ’98 in Iraq to this current situation.  The Secretary-General has a very specific approach.  It is not one that involves very public diplomacy.  That’s his approach.  I can tell you that he is in daily multiple-times contact with Tor Wennesland, who is engaged in very, very active and deep contacts on all sides trying to get to where we want to be.

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Question:  Thank you, Stéphane.  So, if the efforts on the ground… as you mentioned, that’s the strategy right now is to work from the ground and try to approach the Government of Israel.  If that doesn’t work, do you have a time frame in terms of maybe when the Secretary-General maybe have a call or decides…

Spokesman:  Look, things are being decided on a day-to-day basis, what is the best tactic in the Secretary-General’s mind to try to bring an end… trying to bring an end to this conflict.  His position, publicly, is very clear and has been well documented.

Question:  Just a follow-up.  A ceasefire, you… the efforts are advancing?  What is the new approach?  We know that France’s President, President [Emmanuel] Macron, said he had been talking to the parts… the leaders of Palestine, as well as Israel.  The President of the United States, as Edith mentioned, had a call.  Where that stands, what the countries are… is anything that the Secretary is coordinating?

Spokesman:  Well, I mean, there are, obviously, discussions going on between Governments, as well.  I mean, we know there are other parties involved in trying to get… to bring peace and to see a halt to the fighting.  I think everybody is working in the same direction.

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Question:  Hi.  Thanks, Steph.  I have two questions today, one on Palestine and the other on Myanmar.  On Israel-Palestine, we saw normalizations of diplomatic relationship with the past year between Israel and several other countries in the region, and now we’re seeing some of the worst violence between Palestinians and Israelis that we’ve seen in years.  Does the Secretary-General feel that any of these normalizations were damaging to the dynamics in the region?

Spokesman:  I’m not… that’s an analysis best left to you, Toby.  I’m not equipped to do that kind of spot analysis, if you’ll apol… if you’ll excuse me.

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Question:  Steph, quick follow-up, please, has Tor Wennesland called Prime Minister Netanyahu or anyone from the UN… maybe Ms. [Rosemary] DiCarlo?  I mean, has anyone spoken directly with the Prime Minister?  [cross talk]

Spokesman:  Mr. Wennesland has been in touch with Israeli decision makers at various key and critical levels.

Correspondent:  Nobody has spoken directly with the Prime Minister.

Spokesman:  I’m not going to go into the details of his contacts, so I’m not saying yes or no.

Question:  Why is that, like, such a secret?  Normally, you’re very okay with it.  [cross talk]

Spokesman:  Because, I think, right… because right now, for us, the focus is on the success of his efforts rather than detailing those efforts in a play-by-play.

Abdelhamid?

Question:  Thank you, Steph.  I want to follow up with a question that James had, Betul and Edie, about the activities of the Secretary-General and his Special Envoy, Mr. Wennesland.  So, the SG so far, he has not contacted any Israeli officials.  He’s not prepared to go to the region, and Wennesland is engaged, but we don’t know what kind of engagement.

I want to ask you specifically, can you give us a rundown of what he’s doing, Mr. Wennesland?  Did he leave his office in Jerusalem?  Did he leave his office?  [cross talk]

Spokesman:  Abdelhamid, I did not say that Mr. Wennesland was going about his normal work.  He is having deep and extensive contacts with all the key actors involved.  And if you’ve asked me if he’s left… I don’t know… did you ask me, what, if he’s left his office?

Question:  Yeah, if he left his office in Jerusalem.

Spokesman:  I have no doubt that he has stepped out of his office to speak to various people.

Question:  Does he…

Spokesman:  This is not normal times.  I understand the need from your end to have as much of a detailed play-by-play, but I’m not able to go into that, as I don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize his work.

Question:  The other thing you just said, that UNRWA was asking for $38 million for emergency relief, is the Secretary-General is willing… is he willing to also release some money from the emergency fund that he has in his control?  [cross talk]

Spokesman:  Yes, we are working on that, and we hope to have an announcement on a CERF (Central Emergency Response Fund) allocation very soon.

Question:  Yesterday, Steph, you said that Israel had not allowed some of the humanitarian shipment going into Gaza.  Is there any development in that area also?

Spokesman:  The crossings remain closed.  We very much [hope] that both the Erez and the Kerem Shalom, which is the one used for goods, that those crossings are open as quickly as possible.  They were closed yesterday while we were trying to get things in for security reasons.  So, the shipments… there were shipments of vaccines for state kicks… aid kits, food and other emergency medicine that was not able to get in.

Okay.  James?

Question:  You’re being very cagey on one question you’ve been asked repeatedly, which is the contact that the Secretary-General or anyone at the UN has had with the Israeli Prime Minister.  I would argue it’s important for us to know whether the man who’s leading a military operation bombarding the people of Gaza is refusing to take the UN’s calls.

Spokesman:  I understand your position.  I’m not going to go any further from my end.

Question:  Okay.  Couple of other questions, then, if I can.  Actually, I have one more… you’ve said that you’re very much focusing on ending the conflict.  We understand that, but clearly, it draws attention to the wider issues of this conflict, which has been festering, and no one’s been doing anything; the Security Council’s not been doing anything, for a very long time.

I had an interesting Twitter exchange last week with the former French ambassador, Gérard Araud.  He said… [cross talk]

Spokesman:  Every Twitter exchange with Gérard Araud is interesting.

Question:  “The two-State solution has been dead for some time,” he told me.  And then, talking about Security Council, ambassador says, “They have nothing else, so they pretend.”

Does the Secretary-General believe the two-State solution is dead, that Israel’s already built on top of the Palestinian State, or should there be some fresh thinking now?

Spokesman:  Listen, no one is ever against any fresh thinking, but I think, as we’ve said, the longer this conflict goes on, the longer the underlying political issues are not solved, the more difficult it will get to that goal that we’ve always called for, which is two States, Israel and Palestine, living in peace side by side.  The more time passes, the more difficult it will be to get to that goal.

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Question:  Yeah.  Did the Secretary-General express, directly or indirectly, any admiration of the heroic resistance of the Palestinian people in resisting an oppressive army, which reminds us of the colonial power trying to subjugate an innocent people under occupation for over 54 years and a Gaza under siege for over 13 years?  Did he see that picture of a resilient people?

Spokesman:  I think what the Secretary-General sees are civilians who are suffering and proving resilient in extremely difficult circumstances and people who deserve to be helped and deserve to be helped by the international community, and we hope that they will through funding to our humanitarian appeals.

Question:  Steph, can I ask one more… from Toby, NHK?  [cross talk]

Spokesman:  Go ahead, Toby.

Question:  Thanks, sorry.  This is sort of a strange question, but just to follow up on James on, like… in the political process, Oslo Accords were before my time, and I don’t really have a practical image in my head of how this kind of diplomacy… how the UN facilitates this kind of diplomacy.  Like, what would a political dialogue facilitated by the UN to create a political process for reconciliation and the two-State solution, which is this theoretical concept that we always hear about, what is that… what has that looked like in the past, and what would that look like now?

Spokesman:  I would encourage you to buy a couple of books to look at what that looked like in the past, and I think there’s a movie version of the Oslo play.  It’s coming out on HBO next week.  [laughter]

But… in all seriousness, what we want to see, what we’ve always called for, are direct face-to-face discussions between the parties, between the Israelis and the Palestinians, to settle a number of these final settlement issues so we can get to what we want to see, what is based on UN resolutions, which is two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side.  And we — and I know a lot of other actors — will do whatever it can to help bring that about.

Thank you.

For information media. Not an official record.