Withdrawal from Palestinian areas urged. (PeaceWatch: Middle East).

The Security Council on 26 October called on Israel to immediately withdraw its forces from Palestinian-controlled areas. It said it "fully supported the important diplomatic initiatives to deescalate the situation on the ground", and "strongly supported" all elements contained in a statement issued by representatives of the European Union, the United States, the Russian Federation, and the Secretary-General's Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen. Issued a day earlier, the statement noted that the Palestinian Authority's steps to ensure strict implementation of the ceasefire had been undermined by the assassination of Israeli Cabinet Minister Rehavam Zeevi. Noting that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat had detailed steps to control violence and combat terrorism, the statement urged him to ensure full and strict compliance. Israel was also called on to halt extrajudicial killings, ensure greater restraint by its defence forces, fully respect the ceasefire, move s wiftly to ease closures, and implement the Mitchell Report and Tenet Plan, "which will lead to a resumption of the political process in order to address the fundamental issues between the two parties".

Implementation of the Mitchell Committee report offered "the most practicable route back" to the Middle East peace process, according to the annual report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, released on 31 October. The report called for the "immediate and comprehensive implementation" of the recommendations of the Mitchell panel. The Committee expressed grave concern over Israel's policies and actions, including its illegal settlement policy, military incursions--"unprecedented in scope"--into the various parts of the Palestinian Territory, excessively harsh and disproportionate attacks by Israeli Defence Forces against Palestinians, the widespread policy of targeted extrajudicial assassinations of Palestinian activists, and the harmful effect of the occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people.

RELATED ARTICELE: Palestinian Economy in Crisis

Unprecedented restrictions on the flow of goods, labour and financial resources have taken a mounting toll on the Palestinian economy, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released on 5 October. The annual report of UNCTAD on assistance to the Palestinian people states that since October 2000, direct losses in national income have been accelerating, while domestic output has been cut by almost half. Gross national income is estimated to have declined by at least 20 per cent in 2000. Unemployment grew sharply, with over a third of the labour force--some 300,000--reported jobless this year. More than 1 million Palestinians are now living under the poverty line of $2 a day, and the income of around 64 per cent of households has fallen below $400 a month.