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Pledging UN Support for Road Map, Annan Appeals For All to 'Stay the Course'

UNITED NATIONS – Pledging total United Nations support to the Israelis and Palestinians in implementing the Road Map settlement for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appealed to both sides to “stay the course” on what may be a difficult path to peace.

“The Road Map’s goal of two states, a secure and prosperous Israel and an independent, viable, sovereign and democratic Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security, must be the focus of our energies and efforts,” a spokesman for Annan said in a statement issued in New York after the plan was formally presented to the parties today.

Representatives from the so-called Quartet – the UN, United States, European Union and Russian Federation – handed over the plan to Prime Minister Abu Mazen in Ramallah within hours of the swearing in of the new Palestinian government, while the US Ambassador to Israel delivered the Road Map to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The Secretary-General believes the plan “gives the Israeli and Palestinian peoples a real chance to end their long and painful conflict, and thus a chance for all the peoples of that troubled region to establish, at last, a just and comprehensive peace,” the statement said.

Calling on both sides to embrace the plan and cooperate with the Quartet in implementing it, “The Secretary-General wishes to assure both Israelis and Palestinians that the United Nations will do everything it can to support them, as they follow the Road Map,” the statement added. “He also looks forward to continued cooperation among the Quartet members and with the parties, as well as with the states in the region, which have an important role to play in the peace process.

“The Secretary-General believes that, while the path to peace may be difficult, Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the international community, must stay the course,” it said.

-[United Nations News Center.] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Quartet Releases Road Map to Middle East Peace

NEW YORK - The diplomatic Quartet - comprising the United Nations, United States, Russian Federation and European Union - released its Road Map for a permanent solution to the Middle East conflict today, a move immediately welcomed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who urged the two sides to embrace the plan.

The presentation of the Road Map took place in Ramallah within hours of the swearing in of the new Palestinian government. The document was handed over to Prime Minister Abu Mazen by the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed Larsen, the acting United States Consul General in East Jerusalem, Jeff Feldman, the Russian Federation's Middle East envoy, Andrei Vodvin and the European Union's Middle East Envoy, Miguel Moratinos.

Also attending the meeting with the Quartet were Palestinian ministers Nabil Shaath, Yasser Abed Rabo, Saeb Erakat.

At about the same time, the US Ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, delivered the Road Map to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

At UN Headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General said it offered the two parties a chance to bring an end to a long and painful conflict. "I hope," he added, "as we press ahead with its implementation, both parties will embrace it and see it as an opportunity to bring an end to this conflict."

-[United Nations News Center.] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Palestinian Parliament Approves PM Abbas' New Cabinet

GAZA CITY - As the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament) gave Tuesday, April 29, the new cabinet led by prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) vote of confidence, with 51 votes in favor, 18 against and three abstentions, here are some insights into the new Palestinian "reformist" cabinet.

Abu Mazen is the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) number two, in his capacity as the PLO secretary general.

Born in 1935, Abu Mazen fled with his family to Syria after the 1948 Naqba (when Israeli Diaspora invaded Palestine and forced its indigenous people to flee their motherland). He holds a B.A. in law and PhD in the history of Zionism from a Moscow-based university.

In 1968, Abu Mazen became an MP in the then Palestinian parliament. He heads the Palestinian delegation in the negotiations with the Israelis in 1977, which resulted in the so-called peace principles with Israel.

Abu Mazen started behind-the-scene talks with the Israelis through Dutch mediators in 1989 and orchestrated the Madrid peace negotiations.

He supervised the marathon and tough negotiations, which brought Oslo agreements to light and headed the Palestinian delegation in the Cairo-based Gaza-Jericho talks.

Abu Mazen headed the Palestinian delegation in the latest inter-Palestinian talks under the tutelage of the Egyptian intelligence, during which he called for a one-year cease fire between the Palestinian factions and the Israeli army.

-Published at the Palestine Chronicle.