Middle East: Annan's envoy continues 'intensive' diplomacy on current crisis

Continuing his intensive diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, a special envoy of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan held several high-level meetings in Gaza today aimed at dealing with the latest crisis in the region.

The Secretary-General's Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen, met on Thursday with envoys from the United States, the European Union and the Russian Federation, according to a UN spokesman. Mr. Roed-Larsen also held talks with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and European Union Secretary-General Javier Solana.

In addition, Mr. Roed-Larsen and the other envoys had meetings scheduled with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat "as part of their continuing effort to foster dialogue between the Palestinians and the Israelis," spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters in New York.

Meanwhile, the chairman of a UN Palestinian rights committee has urged Israel to immediately withdraw its forces from all areas under Palestinian control and to refrain from future incursions, according to a document released today at UN Headquarters in New York.

In a letter to the Secretary-General, the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Papa Louis Fall, notes that the Israel Defence Forces have conducted a series of incursions into a number of Palestinian-controlled areas, "contributing significantly" to the escalation. "As a result of shelling and gunfire from the Israel Defence Forces, more than 20 innocent Palestinian civilians, including children, lost their lives throughout the Palestinian Territory," Mr. Fall writes.

"By occupying areas under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, creating facts on the ground, carrying out extrajudicial assassinations and destroying Palestinian houses and other property, Israel is inflicting great suffering on the Palestinian people and is doing irreparable damage to the principles and foundations of the peace process," the letter says.

Given the potential for the conflict to widen, the Committee chairman says the Security Council should "act decisively in order to prevent further bloodshed and destruction."