Following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, the head of the main United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees said today that her main focus was on creating jobs, micro-financing and housing reconstruction so that the inhabitants themselves would benefit from the pullback. In that effort, Karen Koning AbuZayd, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said the Agency will work within the framework of James Wolfensohn, the envoy of the Middle East Quartet for coordinating Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and the economic and social transition there. Read more about UN agency sees opportunity after Gaza withdrawal 

A Palestinian militant group kidnapped three staff members of the main United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip this morning, releasing them several hours later following negotiations. The employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) were taken in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip just before noon local time. After talks, the nature of which has not been disclosed, they were released into the custody of UNRWA and of the Palestinian Authority. They have now returned safely to the Agency’s headquarters in Gaza. UNRWA has been providing education, health care, social services and emergency relief to Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. Read more about Palestinian militants kidnap then release UN staff in Gaza Strip 

Voicing alarm at the renewed violence between Israel and the Palestinians in recent weeks, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on both sides to work for a negotiated settlement. In a statement released by his spokesman, the Secretary-General said the recent suicide bombing in Netanya and rockets fired from Gaza killing innocent Israeli civilians “are shocking and condemnable.” He also welcomed efforts by the Palestinian Authority security forces to prevent them. Mr. Annan noted that Israel “has resumed forceful action in the face of the serious deterioration that has shattered the lull in violence of the past few months.” Read more about With Middle East violence rising, Annan calls for efforts to negotiate settlement 

Urging all sides to concentrate on restoring the quiet that has prevailed in recent months, the top United Nations Middle East envoy condemned both today’s targeted killings of Palestinian militants in Gaza, and yesterday’s rocket attack on the southern Israeli town of Nativ Ha’asara that killed one Israeli woman and wounded several others. “Without prejudice to Israel’s right to legitimate and proportional self-defence, UNSCO [the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process], reiterates the United Nations’ consistent and vocal opposition to extra-judicial killings,” said one of two statements released today by envoy Alvaro de Soto’s office in Jerusalem. Read more about UN envoy condemns latest violence in West Bank and Gaza 

After consulting the members of the Advisory Commission for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to appoint the Deputy Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Karen AbuZayd, as the new Commissioner-General of the Agency.  Ms. AbuZayd, a national of the United States, succeeds Peter Hansen of Denmark. In August 2000, Ms. AbuZayd was appointed to the post of Deputy Commissioner-General of UNRWA.  On 1 April 2005, she became the Acting Commissioner-General.  From her base in Gaza, she helped to oversee the education, health, social services and microenterprise programmes for 4.1 million Palestinian refugees. Read more about Veteran relief official named head of UN agency for Palestinian refugees 

The United Nations-backed diplomatic Quartet seeking peace in the Middle East today called on Israel to take immediate steps to relieve economic hardships facing the Palestinians and on the Palestinians to fight violence and terrorism ahead of Israel’s planned withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip. They urged Israel “to take immediate steps, without endangering Israeli security, to relieve the economic hardships faced by the Palestinian people and to facilitate rehabilitation and reconstruction by easing the flow of goods and people in and out of Gaza and the West Bank and between them.” Read more about Middle East Quartet urges Israel to ease movement restrictions 

The Quartet working to restore peace in the Middle East – the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russian Federation – today reiterated its willingness to help Israelis and Palestinians with the hard work and difficult decisions needed to make positive use of what it called a “hopeful and promising moment” for both sides. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan summarized the Quartet’s conclusions at a news conference following the group’s meeting in Moscow. The Quartet said a new Palestinian State must be truly viable, with contiguity in the West Bank. No party should take unilateral actions that would prejudge the final status issues. “The Quartet urges both parties to fulfil their obligations under the Road Map,” Mr. Annan said. Read more about Middle East diplomatic Quartet meets in Moscow 

Veteran United Nations negotiator Alvaro de Soto will begin work immediately as the top UN envoy in the Middle East after Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appointed the Peruvian national to the post. On Monday, Mr. de Soto will accompany Mr. Annan to a working meeting of the Middle East Quartet — which comprises the UN, the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United States — in Moscow. De Soto succeeds Terje Roed-Larsen as UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. He will also act as Mr. Annan’s envoy to the Quartet. Read more about Alvaro de Soto of Peru named new UN envoy to Middle East 

Stressing the concern of the United Nations over Israel’s failure thus far to dismantle settlement outposts and freeze settlement expansion, Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told the Security Council this morning that Israeli settlement policy could not be separated from the issue of the barrier under construction in the West Bank. Delivering his monthly briefing on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, he said that the approved route of the barrier still incorporated a significant percentage of Palestinian land. While Israel had stated that the barrier was a temporary structure to meet security needs, no one could observe its scope and route without being concerned over possible implications for the contiguity of the future Palestinian State. Read more about UN official's monthly briefing expresses concern over Israel's failure to freeze expansion of settlements