Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | M | M2 Presswire

Cairo meeting addresses economic, humanitarian crisis in Palestinian Territory; Speakers stress need for short-, long-term solutions.

Article Excerpt
M2 PRESSWIRE-28 April 2006-UN: Cairo meeting addresses economic, humanitarian crisis in Palestinian Territory; Speakers stress need for short-, long-term solutions(C)1994-2006 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:27042006

CAIRO - In his keynote address to the United Nations Seminar of Assistance to the Palestinian People this afternoon, Member of Palestinian Legislative Council Nabil Sha'ath said the new Government was willing to accept financial oversights or to have money transferred through President Abbas, but it could not accept the attempt to bypass the Palestinian Authority.

Stating that long-term solutions to the situation in the Occupied Territory had to be considered, he called for the serious reconvening of the conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to protect Palestinians; an increased United Nations presence; implementation of donor pledges; the return of a free transfer of funds to the Palestinians; and the revitalization of the Rafah agreement on the freedom of movement.

This afternoon's session, part of a two-day meeting sponsored by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, heard presentations by experts on the scope of the economic and humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Following the keynote address, Director of the Israel-Palestine Centre for Research and Information in East Jerusalem Gershon Baskin said Israel and the Palestinians did not have the tools or ability to resolve the conflict by themselves.

He recommended an internationalization of the solution, proposing that Israel withdraw behind the security barrier, including all settlements east of the barrier, and that it request a United Nations interim administration mission take responsibility for those areas and prepare the Palestinian Territory for independence.

The private sector might be able to help in the current situation in the Occupied Territory, Hanna Siniora, Chairman of the Palestinian-European Chamber of Commerce, said. He suggested giving responsibility for the housing business and other areas to the private sector in order to create jobs and form a larger base of people able to pay taxes.

Birzeit University Professor Hani Nigim said the Palestinians were looking for intensified assistance in the short term.

They needed urgent services and assistance. Free movement of that assistance was essential.

The Palestinian people had to prepare future infrastructures to cope with coming demographic challenges, including a viable solution to the needs of refugees, the Chairman of the Israeli Institute for Economic and Social...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!