Briefing the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman discussed what he described as ‘another tumultuous and deadly month in the Middle East’, taking the opportunity to warn about “steadily increasing tensions and swelling violence.”
“We see the circumstances in Gaza as becoming increasingly worrisome as we approach the six-month mark since the end of last summer’s conflict. The combination of the failure to rectify the persistent governance and security issues and the slow pace of reconstruction has created an increasingly toxic environment.”
Expressing his concerns about the adverse impacts on the two-state solution, Feltman said, according to WAFA: “The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians continues to threaten further escalation. As we warned this Council last month, if this occurs it may have highly damaging, and potentially irreversible, consequences for both parties and for the two-state solution.”
Pointing to a total of $200 million in Palestinian tax revenues withheld by the Israeli Government, Feltman said that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is facing “acute fiscal challenges that must be urgently addressed,” and described PA’s approach to lend from private banks to pay portion of its civil servants’ salaries as “neither sufficient nor sustainable.” more
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