Last update - 00:00 26/09/2006
UN urges Jews, Muslims to use religious holidays for peace moves
By The Associated Press
The United Nations issued appeals to coincide with the Jewish New Year and Ramadan, the month-long Muslim season of fasting, seeking humanitarian relief in the Palestinian territories and a sign of the fate of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah.
UN Humanitarian Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland appealed to Jews and Muslims to use the religious holidays to show goodwill to each other and "break through humanitarian crises that are long overdue to be resolved."
"If we don't make progress now in these holiest weeks both for Muslims and for Jews, we will not make much progress later," Egeland told the Associated Press on Monday.
"It's a time for gestures after so many months of provocations on one side or the other," he said. "Gestures can and should be made in the next days - that's what we hope for."
The Jewish New Year was Saturday and Sunday, while Ramadan formally started on Sunday. The appeal timed with the holidays was threefold.
First, Egeland asked Hezbollah to give some sign that Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the two Israeli soldiers it has held since July 12, are alive.
The capture of the two sparked the devastating month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Egeland met with the two soldiers' families at the UN last week. He said he hopes that a sign of their fate could help defuse tension and possibly lead to a larger prisoner exchange.
"Our appeal is: Untangle this, let's now do what is right in the month of Ramadan and let the families know that they are well and know that they are not mistreated," Egeland said.
Second, Egeland asked that Israel allow for open access to the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank so that the Palestinian economy is not cut off.
"Gaza is a time bomb; with little or no access in many areas, it will not go well," Egeland said. "There will be a social explosion, and it is not in the interest of anybody including Israel."
He said he had presented a proposal to Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and she had promised to consider it.
The proposal includes deploying a humanitarian liaison officer with Israeli authorities and expanding the European Union presence at the Karni and Rafah border crossings to make sure that no goods could get in or out of Gaza that would threaten Israel's security.
Third, Egeland is asking for a "month of tranquility" in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region to allow for humanitarian groups to get to areas they have been unable to reach.
The violence in Darfur has led to some 200,000 deaths and displaced more than 2.5 million more people since 2003. A May peace deal has not held, forcing many aid groups to pull out of parts of Darfur.
"The reason we are appealing is we've lost access to too many civilians in Darfur and we will have a massive loss of life unless we get cessation of hostilities and access to the populations," he said.
Egeland said that on Tuesday, he planned to meet with several humanitarian aid groups, some of which fear they may have to withdraw from Darfur.