Deterioration of Israeli-Palestinian situation & other topics - Daily briefing (28 October 2019)

Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Highlight:
- Security Council
- Syria - Constitutional Committee
- Syria
- Iraq
- Deputy Secretary-General
- Mali peacekeeper death
- Somalia
- Somalia/South Sudan - Floodings
- Zambia - Launch of Humanitarian Response Plan
- Myanmar
- Venezuelan refugees and migrants
- Senior Personnel Appointment
- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage
- Press Briefing
Security Council
Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, briefed the Security Council by videoconference on the Israeli-Palestinian situation and said the past month has witnessed the continuing deterioration of the situation on the ground. With no prospect of final status negotiations on the horizon, he said, facts on the ground continue to deteriorate, pushing us ever further from a viable two-State solution.
Mr. Mladenov warned that violence continues to be a major part of the day-to-day reality of the conflict. However, he added, in recent weeks we have seen a welcome reduction of violence in Gaza and the launching of rockets and the agreements for calm brokered by the UN and Egypt continue to hold. Despite the overall improvement, he said, three Palestinians were killed by the Israeli Defence Forces, and over 500 injured during protests at the Gaza perimeter fence.
The Special Coordinator told the Security Council that we can no longer continue to address Gaza’s critical needs on a month-to-month basis, while failing to confront the broader political reality including the stiffening closures, violence and lack of unity. Similarly, he said, we also can no longer disregard the cracks emerging in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Settlement construction and expansion continues, the Palestinian Authority financial crisis is not fully resolved, and the economy continues to stagnate.

Syria - Constitutional Committee
Geir Pedersen, the Special Envoy for Syria, spoke to the press in Geneva today, and he noted that as he was speaking, 150 members of the Constitutional Committee are arriving in Geneva. 
He said that the Constitutional Committee talks will begin on Wednesday and added that the agreement to establish the Constitutional Committee marks the first political agreement between the Government of Syria and the opposition.
He said that the Constitutional Committee commits the government and the opposition and their nominees to sit together face-to-face in dialogue and negotiations and also creates spaces for the voices of civil society to be heard. And it could be a door-opener to a broader political process.
Mr. Pedersen stressed, however, that the Constitutional Committee alone cannot and will not resolve the Syrian conflict. For that, he said, concrete and tangible progress is needed on other aspects of Security Council resolution 2254, as well as meaningful progress on the ground.
Full Highlights: