UN chief proposes options to protect Palestinians

Guterres 4-point proposal 

• Providing a "more robust UN presence on the ground" with rights monitors and political officers to report on the situation.

• Pouring in more UN humanitarian and development aid to "ensure the well-being of the population."

•  Creating a civilian observer mission that would be present in sensitive areas such as checkpoints and near Israeli settlements, with a mandate to report on protection issues.

• Deploying an armed military or police force, under a UN mandate, to provide physical protection to Palestinian civilians.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday presented four options aimed at boosting the protection of Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territories, from sending UN rights monitors and unarmed observers to deploying a military or police force under UN mandate.

The 14-page proposals were contained in a report requested by the General Assembly in response to a surge of violence in Gaza, where 171 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since late March.

The UN chief stressed that for each of the options, cooperation by Israel and the Palestinians would be necessary.

Israel yesterday rejected the report.

"Instead of suggesting ways to protect the Palestinian people from Israel, the UN should instead hold the Palestinian leadership accountable for continually endangering its own people," Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said.

A UN mandate for a protection force would require a decision from the Security Council, where the United States could use its veto power to block a measure opposed by Israel.

A small European-staffed observer mission was deployed in the West Bank city of Hebron in 1994, but Israel has since rejected calls for an international presence in flashpoint areas.

In the report, Guterres said the United Nations was already undertaking many protection initiatives but that "these measures fall short" of the concerns raised in a General Assembly resolution adopted in June.

In that measure, the 193-nation assembly tasked Guterres with the drafting of proposals for "an international protection mechanism" for the Palestinians.