Document Library

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov’s Remarks at the 6^th Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism

Jerusalem, 19 March 2018

Your Excellency, Minister of Education and Diaspora Naftali Bennet,

Your Excellency, Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked,

President of the World Jewish Council, Ronald Lauder,

Ministers, ambassadors, dear friends,

It is an honor to be back at this important gathering. I am grateful to Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Government of Israel and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for once again extending an invitation to the United Nations to participate.

Allow me to extend the greetings from Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who regrets that he is unable to attend today’s important conference and has asked me to represent him today.

Before I begin, I would like to express my condolences to the families of Adiel Kolman, Ziv Daos and Netanel Kahalani, who were killed by Palestinian perpetrators in the past few days.

There is nothing heroic in killing.

Just look around you in the region— has violence and terror helped any cause, any nation, any country? Those who inspire and praise such attacks do not serve the cause of peace.

Dear guests,

The fact we are all here today, for the sixth time, in Jerusalem, at the Global Forum for Combatting Antisemitism is a testament.

It is a testament to the commitment of nations and peoples around the world to never forget the crimes of the Shoah.

It is a testament to never allow hatred, racisms and discrimination and xenophobia to rule the world.

But most of all, it is a testament to the resilience of the Jewish people and to their long and painful journey home.

So it is most appropriate today, to open this forum with three very clear and simple messages and address them to all who seek to fan the flames of hatred, terror and war:

The State of Israel is here to stay.

It is the home of the Jewish people.

In the modern context, denying Israel’s right to exist is anti-Semitism at its worst.

The modern state of Israel was born out of the ashes of the Second World War. It was built and defended by Jews who came home from across the world, it was established to be a democracy that respects human rights, protects minorities and extends support to immigrants. It is not a colonial project, but a project of hope.

The Shoah did not occur in a vacuum. It was a culmination of thousands of years of persecution from the exile of ancient Babylon, through the pogroms in Tsarist Russia, to the systematic extermination in the Nazi death camps.

The United Nations believes that we have an obligation not only to remember the boundless evil that led to the attempt to systematically eliminate the Jewish people, but to stand up and confront hatred and xenophobia where we see it.

Today we see incidents of anti-Semitism, racism and intolerance increasing globally, triggered by populism and by divisive politics.

In Europe, we are seeing the re-emergence of neo-Nazi and other extreme nationalist groups.

In America we hear ominous chants of “blood and soil” and “Jews will not replace us”.

Online there is a surge in support for racist or supremacist causes.

And there are those who continue to call for the destruction of Israel. They sharpen their weapons as we speak.

Looking closer to home, we must recognize and denounce anti-Semitism here in the region.

In too many societies across the Middle East, the demonization of Jews continues unabated.

Many have often spoken of how a peaceful two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will pave the way towards resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

They are right.

Yet at the same time, an enduring peace must be based on the acceptance that Jews, Christians and Muslims all have a historic and religious connection to this land, to this city.

While history has taught us that blind hatred and propaganda need little to turn into violence, it also teaches us that we have a choice.

It teaches us that no one is born hating other people.

It teaches us that we have a choice whether we give in to xenophobia and hatred or to respect different peoples, faiths and cultures.

The Shoah was the result of turning hatred into policy. It became possible because too many people chose to collaborate or looked the other way.

This is why attempts to rewrite the history of the Holocaust and downplay the complicity of those who participated in or enabled genocide are so concerning.

Renowned Israeli writer and Holocaust survivor Aharon Applefeld, who recently passed away, described his memory of confronting indifference:

“I noticed that all the doors and windows of our non-Jewish neighbors were suddenly shut, and we walked alone in empty streets. None of our many neighbors, […] was at the window when we dragged along our suitcases.”

A sad and tragic picture imprinted in the family history of so many Jews who were lucky to survive the killing grounds of Europe.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Some people did not look away.

They did not keep their doors and windows shut.

In my country, Bulgaria, people came out. To stand on the train tracks and to not allow the deportations. In a country that was allied to Nazi Germany.

While sadly 11,300 Jews living in Bulgarian-administered territories in northern Greece, Eastern Serbia, and Macedonia were deported by the Nazis and their collaborators to be murdered in Treblinka, Bulgaria’s Jewish community of 50,000 people survived the war and has been instrumental in building the modern State of Israel.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We all have a choice to look away from the problems of anti-Semitism, xenophobia and intolerance, or to confront them.

We all have a responsibility to educate our children long before their young hearts and minds are poisoned by propaganda.

To this end, the United Nations and the Secretary-General are committed to continue working to educate people around the world about the horrors of the past and how we can all contribute to ensuring they are never forgotten and never repeated.

I wish your conference every success.

Thank you.

UN Report: The crisis in Gaza requires a changed political reality and renewed commitment by the parties to avoid a total systems collapse

Friday, 16 March 2018, Jerusalem – The absence of a political process aimed at ending the conflict on the basis of two-state solution continues to be the single largest impediment to Palestinian development, according to a new report by the office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO). This prolonged period of conflict management, of transition without end, some 25 years after the beginning of the Oslo process, will not lead to a solution that meets the needs and aspirations of Palestinians and Israelis.

The report will be presented to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) at the bi-annual meeting in Brussels on March 20, 2018. The report notes that Gaza continues to present the greatest risk of escalation alongside an acute humanitarian crisis with the potential for a complete breakdown in service delivery.
To properly address the issues facing Gaza, the report suggests a multi-tiered approach for the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israel and the international community:
First and foremost, we must tend to the humanitarian crisis which means ensuring that hospitals and health clinics function, essential drugs are available, sewage and water treatment is provided, and the electricity situation is immediately improved. Second, increased efforts are needed to finalize the reconstruction of physical damages from the 2014 conflict, and simultaneously to revive Gaza’s moribund economy, and revitalize its productive sectors. Third, to ensure that the Strip remains livable, investment in longer-term infrastructure projects to provide more electricity, potable water and sewage treatment is needed.

In addition to the PA, Israel and the international community’s commitment to the success of these efforts, the report stresses the need for a changed political reality on the ground. This includes the resumption by the PA of its full responsibilities for the people, governance and infrastructure of Gaza; Hamas must cease its military build-up, including the construction of tunnels and the firing of rockets towards Israel; Israel’s closure regime must fundamentally change to allow for the recovery and development of the Strip through movement and access of people and goods.

The report warns that the overall situation in the West Bank and Gaza remains deeply worrying as hope continues to diminish for a political resolution to the conflict. “The UN and partners will continue to highlight the key concerns and areas for intervention, but the parties need to make the difficult choices and compromises to achieve a long overdue resolution to this conflict,” it concludes. Note to Editors: The Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) serves as the principal policy-level coordination mechanism for development assistance to the oPt. The AHLC is chaired by Norway and co-sponsored by the EU and the US. In addition, the United Nations participates together with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The AHLC seeks to promote dialogue between donors, the Palestinian Authority and the Government of Israel. The full report to the AHLC prepared by the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process is attached to this release and includes an executive summary of its main conclusions.

Rome, 15 March 2018

THE SECRETARY-GENERALREMARKS AT MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE

ON SUPPORT FOR THE UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY

FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I thank Egypt, Jordan and Sweden for co-chairing this gathering.

I also welcome the high-level presence of the League of Arab States, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation and the European Union.

I would like to start by recalling a memorable encounter I had last year with students at an UNRWA school in Gaza.

We all know the pressures that Palestinians in Gaza face -- the poverty and power shortages, the closures and restrictions, the periodic violence and fear that yet another conflict could erupt at any moment. Yet in that place of uncertainty, the young people with whom I met were composed in talking about their situation. They spoke with passion about their commitment to democracy and their thirst for human rights. They shared with me their desire to make a difference in the world. In that place where hope is eroded daily, these students held on to their aspirations for the future. If only, I thought, the world could do more to respond to their plight, and more to translate their dreams into tangible improvements in their lives.

That is precisely what UNRWA does every day with such steadfastness, not only in Gaza but in the camps, communities and countries across the region that host Palestinian refugees. We have gathered today to fortify that mission and to uphold our responsibility as an international community to support and protect the vulnerable. We are here to help UNRWA overcome the worst financial crisis in its history. In the early days of the United Nations, the General Assembly created UN Relief and Works Agency to provide Palestine refugees with assistance, and to help them achieve their human potential.

Today, UNRWA’s mission is just as crucial as it was sixty-eight years ago. But until a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is achieved, the work of UNRWA remains vital. Vital to providing life-saving humanitarian relief and health care. Vital to building the future of Palestinian society through education. Vital to ensuring human security, rights and dignity for over five million Palestine refugees. UNRWA has a solid record of achievement. Its schools are among the best performing in the region. Its health, relief and social programmes are low-cost and high-impact. And by keeping half a million children in school and millions of people healthy and nourished, UNRWA is contributing to stability in the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as in Jordan and Lebanon -- and has undertaken extraordinary efforts to support Palestinians who have suffered as a result of the tragedy in Syria.

UNRWA is an asset to the international community that we must protect and support. Unfortunately, today’s financial crisis places all of UNRWA’s achievements at risk. Without a collective solution, UNRWA will soon run out of money. We must not allow this to happen. I have spoken to many of you about the situation. UNRWA’s Commissioner-General has also been seeking your support. We sense a very high level of concern. Now we need high-level action to translate concern into cash.

I deeply appreciate the generosity of donors who support UNRWA, including those who have already pledged their contribution to its 2018 budget, including through multi-year agreements. We are also grateful to donors who have fast-tracked their contributions. Recognizing the urgent needs, the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund is releasing an exceptional combined rapid response grant and loan allocation of $30 million. I thank all donors to CERF who have made this possible. But we must also recognize that the financial crisis facing the Agency today is unlike those in the past. It is far more grave, and threatens to cut programmes far more savagely.

For 2018, with pledges reduced, UNRWA faces a shortfall not of millions, not even of tens of millions, but an estimated $446 million. Critical services could be reduced or eliminated entirely – from schools to sanitation, from medicine to microfinance to food security for some 1.7 million refugees in abject poverty or affected by conflict. This would have severe impacts – a cascade of problems that could push the suffering in disastrous and unpredictable directions.

So today I ask you to bridge the Agency’s shortfall for 2018 with predictable, sustained and additional funding. I also appeal to you to increase support in the years ahead to ensure schooling, health care and food assistance. Such spending is an investment with wide-ranging dividends – in the human development of the Palestinian people, in stability today and in a peaceful future in and beyond Palestine. It can also address some of the despair and other factors that lead to radicalization.

I commend UNRWA’s dedicated and highly skilled workforce -- the teachers, doctors, emergency responders and others who operate 700 schools and 140 clinics under often dire conditions. Let me also acknowledge the extraordinary solidarity of the host countries in accommodating Palestine refugees over seven decades.

As you know, I have prioritized UN reform and I appreciate the advances made by UNRWA and its current leadership. This reflects our commitment to all stakeholders, including beneficiaries in our field operations, to be effective while constantly enhancing our efficiency.

In that spirit, I appeal to all donors – each government and organization in this room today – to step forward and give UNRWA what you can. Truly, what you can.

If each of you does that, we will be able to address UNRWA’s shortfall.

More importantly, we will send a strong message to Palestine refugees that we are committed to their rights, their well-being, and meeting their daily needs.

To those who may question the expense, let me echo UNRWA’s fundraising campaign: Dignity is priceless.

As a matter of human solidarity, and as a matter of smart steps for peace, let us give UNRWA our full and generous support.

Thank you.