All in Gaza should step back from brink: UN envoy
United Nations, July 25 : UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov has reiterated his "call to all in Gaza to step back from the brink", saying "those who seek to provoke Israelis and Palestinians to war must not succeed".
In his briefing to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Mladenov said it has taken an intense effort at preventive diplomacy by the UN and Egypt to make sure that both Israel and Hamas step back from the brink and from potentially a fourth military confrontation in Gaza over past decade, Xinhua reported.
On Friday, four Palestinians were killed and some 210 Palestinians wounded during fierce fighting between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic movement that rules Gaza. The fighting, triggered by the killing of an Israeli soldier, was the most serious one in the Gaza Strip since the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict that killed thousands.
Also, since late March when the Palestinians staged the Great March of Return protests, the death toll of protesters has exceeded 140. The movement, which peaks every Friday, demands the return of Palestinian refugees and the lift of the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza.
In Tuesday's briefing, Mladenov identified the root causes of "this man-made catastrophe" as intractable conflict, over 50 years of occupation, and over a decade of Hamas control of Gaza, Palestinian division and a crippling Israeli closure regime.
He said that for four years, the UN has urged concerted action to address these causes but little has been achieved. "The underlying dynamics have not improved. The humanitarian crisis has deepened, political stalemate between Hamas and Fatah has worsened, and the prospect of another deadly round of violence is growing by the day."
The UN envoy said he has been in engagement with Israel and the Palestinians as well as regional and international partners to reduce tensions, to address humanitarian challenges and to support the Egyptian-led intra-Palestinian reconciliation process.
After Friday's fierce fighting, Hamas announced it had reached a ceasefire agreement with Israel as a result of efforts led by Egypt and the UN.
In the meantime, Mladenov addressed the crippled infrastructure and dire living conditions in Gaza. He urged advancing infrastructure projects to improve water, electricity and health systems, creating employment, and improving Gaza people's cross-border movement as means to de-escalate the situation.
"To this end, the UN is enhancing its presence on the ground to work with donors and international partners to facilitate the smooth implementation of these projects," he said.
Particularly, the UN envoy mentioned a week before, UNDP announced the implementation of some economic initiatives that will create more than 2,500 immediate and short-term job opportunities in Gaza.
However, Mladenov reiterated there is no point in asking donors to continue funding initiatives without a political horizon for the future, warning against a "futile exercise in conflict management and recurring humanitarian support".
In closing, Mladenov reaffirmed the goal of reaching a broader Israeli-Palestinian peace on the basis of two-state solution, in which Gaza is an integral part of future Palestinian state.
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LPG crisis: Karnataka temples gear up to stock wooden logs for ‘Prasada’
Bengaluru (PTI): Temples in Karnataka have started preparations to stock wooden logs fearing that the LPG shortage could hamper the ‘Prasada’ preparation and distributions to the devotees.
The looming LPG crisis in the state in the wake of Iran-Israel conflict has made the temple managements jittery.
According to the Akhila Karnataka Hindu Temple Archakas Federation (AKHTAF) president M S Venkatachalaiah, there is no immediate crisis in the temples.
“We have LPG cylinder stock that can last for a week but if this scarcity continues then there will be a problem in serving Prasada (offerings to the deity) to the devotees,” AKHTAF president said.
He added that many temples in the state have started stocking wooden logs to overcome the LPG crisis.
“Our temples have started preparing to store wooden logs to prepare Prasada though currently we don’t have a problem, at least for a week,” Venkatachalaiah told PTI.
Another priest working in a temple belonging to the state Endowment Department said the temples may have to go back to the traditional way of cooking as done in the ancient time using wood.
The LPG crisis has not affected the mid-day meal programme for government school students yet, though there was a meeting in the Education Department to find ways to tackle if crisis deepens, sources associated with the Mid-day Meal programme said.
Meanwhile, the largest partner of the Mid-day Meal programme in the country is Akshaya Patra.
The NGO said they do not depend much on LPG gas cylinder.
“The LPG crisis has not affected us. Our kitchens are steam-based, and we generate steam through boilers which run on electricity. That’s point number one. Point number two—gas is used only for very minor things, mainly for seasoning. That is the tadka,” an Akshaya Patra executive told PTI.
According to him, the NGO has has a gas reserves for about nearly one month across India, though gas is used in very small quantities every day.
He pointed out that the Mid-day meal programme will not be affected because in one or one-and-a-half weeks, schools will close owing to summer vacation.
Akshaya Patra feeds 23.5 lakh children across more than 24,000 schools across India, in 16 states and three Union Territories, he said.
