Middle East - Peacewatch - includes related article on General Assembly's action of Israeli policy in occupied territories - UN Sec.-General Kofi Annan's agenda

UN Chronicle, Summer, 1998 by Beatrice Grabish

The stalled Middle East peace process, the condition of the Palestinian people, regional economic cooperation, relations between Israel, Lebanon and Syria, and the United Nations development and peacekeeping efforts were high on the agenda during Secretary-General's Kofi Annan's first official visit to the region since taking office.

In Israel, in his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Annan was informed that the Prime Minister would seek Israeli Cabinet approval for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon. On 2 April, the Secretary-General responded to the decision by the Israeli Cabinet to comply with Security Council resolution 425 (1978), adopted on 19 March 1978, regarding Israel's withdrawal of its forces from southern Lebanon. While he was encouraged by the decision, he said its implementation would require discussions with all concerned in order to be fully effective. He urged all parties to cooperate in that process.

During his stay in Israel, Mr. Annan visited Yad Vashem, the memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, where he laid a wreath in Remembrance Hall and asked what would have happened during the Second World War if the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had existed. "Would it have given courage to the victims to resist?" he asked. "Would there have been more Raoul Wallenbergs?"

In a major policy address to the Israel Foreign Relations Council, the Secretary-General stressed that his visit was taking place at a time of considerable uneasiness in the region. He delivered a three-point message: he warned the parties of the potentially grave consequences should the Oslo peace process fail; he called for a new era in relations between Israel and the United Nations; and he asked Israel and its partners to make the difficult choices required for peace. Stressing that he had gone to Israel as a friend, he asked Israel to accept that, "just as you are entitled to ask your Palestinian partners to do their best to live up to their side of the bargain under the agreements reached, so they too are justified in asking you to fulfil your obligations".

On his arrival in Gaza, the Secretary-General was greeted by the President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, and other Palestinian officials, with whom he discussed the Middle East peace process, the conditions of the Palestinian people and the United Nations development efforts in the region. In an address to the Palestinian National Council, the Secretary-General affirmed "history will not deny you a harbour and a home ... Do not despair. Do not waiver. And do not falter. Do not succumb to the ways of violence", Mr. Annan said.

The Secretary-General also met with relatives of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails and visited the Jabaliya refugee camp administered by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The Secretary-General had begun his Middle East tour in Jordan on 18 March. He was briefed by Crown Prince Hassan and his advisers on a series of subjects, including the Middle East peace process, regional economic cooperation, Jordan's economic performance and regional perspectives on the problems of water scarcity, security and refugees. With the Crown Prince and Peter Hansen, UNRWA's Commissioner-General, the Secretary-General made an impromptu visit to two Palestinian refugee camps.

In Egypt, the Secretary-General had detailed discussions on the prospects for reviving the stalled Middle East peace talks, as well as on Iraq, Libya and Somalia. The Secretary-General expressed his gratitude to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for his advice and support during the critical weeks of negotiations with the Iraqi Government.

From Egypt, the Secretary-General on 20 March travelled to Beirut where he met with President Elias Hrawi of Lebanon and discussed the peace process, the situation in southern Lebanon and the plight of Palestinian refugees in the country. At the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naqoura, he laid a wreath at a memorial to peacekeepers killed while on duty. He was briefed by Force Commander Major General J. K. Konrote and his senior officers on the situation in the UNIFIL area of operations. Following an earlier inauguration of United Nations House in Beirut - the common premises for the United Nations system in that city - the Secretary-General held a series of meetings there, including with members of families of Lebanese civilians detained in Israeli prisons, and pledged to take up the matter of the detainees with the Israeli authorities.

In Syria, the Secretary-General met with President Hafez Al-Assad and, at a later press conference, underlined his belief that "there can be no comprehensive peace in the region without Syria".

He also visited the headquarters of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in Lebanon (UNDOF) at Camp Fouar, south of Damascus, where he praised the soldiers and staff for keeping the peace and maintaining stability "on one of the most volatile fault lines in the world".