United Nations Radio

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday expressed concern about the situations in Gaza and the West Bank.

The concern was delivered to the meeting of the Asia Pacific region in Jakarta, Indonesia by Noeleen Heyzer, the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

The Secretary-General says that nearly five months after the end of hostilities nothing beyond basic needs such as food and medicine is allowed in.

He points out that essential recovery efforts and long-term development initiatives are impossible under these conditions.

The Secretary-General calls on Israel to allow in the fuel, fund and materials that are urgently required to repair destroyed and damaged schools, clinics, sanitation networks and shelters and to restore a functioning market.

On West Bank, he notes that there have been encouraging developments by the Palestinian Authority towards building the institutions of an independent state and improving security through the newly trained security forces.

However, he adds, routine incursions by the Israel Defense Forces are a hindrance to progress.

He says Palestinians continue to endure unacceptable unilateral actions such as house demolitions, intensified settlement activities, settler violence and increasing restrictions on movements due to permits, checkpoints and the fence barrier.

The Secretary-General calls on Israel to fundamentally change its policies as it has repeatedly promised to do and to freeze settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Donn Bobb, United Nations Radio.

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