UN envoy calls for firm diplomatic intervention to stem bloodshed in occupied Palestine

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- The United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, has called for “firm” diplomatic intervention to stem the bloodshed in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a BBC interview published on Friday, Wennesland has warned that surging violence in the occupied Palestinian territories has brought the situation to “the brink”.

He also warned of further deterioration due to declining international support for the Palestinian Authority (PA).

“The UN cannot take over this responsibility, we cannot govern Palestine,” he said.

January has been the bloodiest month for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2015 with 35 Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces and settlers, according to the Ministry of Health, including an elderly woman and eight children.

Israeli forces killed more Palestinians in the West Bank in 2022 than in any year since the United Nations began systematically recording fatalities in 2005, after the last major Palestinian uprising, becoming the deadliest year in more than 15 years.

Wennesland accepted there were “difficult” diplomatic conditions, given the “political situation… on the Israeli side” and the “complicated situation” with the Palestinian leadership.

“Whatever government we have in Israel, whatever authority we have in Ramallah, this is the point of departure where this discussion needs to take place,” he said.

“We are very well aware of the agreements made in the formation of the Israeli government. I mean, diplomacy cannot stop there.”

“The engagement we have seen over the last days and weeks is very good. It’s high time and maybe it’s even a little bit late. We should have started before.”

Wennesland’s interview with the BBC follows this week’s visit to the region by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who called for a rapid de-escalation in violence.

The UN envoy said there was now “active diplomacy” involving the Americans, the UN and Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Asked whether this would lead to fewer Israeli military raids or a restoration of PA control in parts of the West Bank, he said, “The American side is in very specific discussions with [the Israelis].

“There are plans that can be rolled out. So these paradigms may change. And I said there needs to be a space for the Palestinian security forces to operate.”

“The key factor here is that the parties are not nursing their unilateral decisions… if we are going to keep the situation under control,” he said.

He called on Israeli occupation authorities to “firmly deal” with the issue of expansion of Israeli settlements and settler violence in the West Bank.

He urged a full resumption of so-called security coordination between Israeli occupation and the PA, which President Mahmoud Abbas last week announced he was canceling.

“There are contacts, but we just had a discussion with the Palestinians on this yesterday. It is not happening in the way it has happened before. They have formally stopped it. It needs to get going again,” he said.

The envoy said stability was also threatened by the worsening situation of the Palestinian Authority, saying some governments who helped fund it had “checked out”.

“There is hardly any money coming in from donors to the PA and that needs to change.”

“If you cannot pay salaries to public employees, if you cannot deliver health services, if you cannot buy medicine, if you cannot get the schools [funded], then we are in a very dire situation,” he said, adding that UN funding was already about $1bn (£830m) alone in Gaza.

“We have significant programmes in the West Bank as well. But the UN cannot take over this responsibility. We cannot govern Palestine. We have no option or alternative to having a functional PA.”