Source: The World Bank Group

Date: 04 Jun 2009

Budget support remains indispensable to allow the Palestinian Authority to continue to provide basic services — and is also an appropriate instrument given the PA’s good performance in public sector management.

Improvements in security in the West Bank have not yet translated into increases in private sector activities — and Quick-Impact Projects have not yet delivered tangible results.

The large sums of money pledged at the International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza (Sharm El-Sheikh March 2, 2009) have not yet translated into tangible progress towards reconstruction of Gaza due to the extreme closure regime it is under.

Economic Monitoring Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee - June 09

In its report to the September 22, 2008 meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), the World Bank noted that the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israel, and the international donor community made some progress on the three parallel conditions for Palestinian economic revival, albeit to different degrees: the PA had continued in its path of fiscal and security reform; donors had provided substantial amounts of aid, but the uncertainty of flows made it difficult for the PA to plan its finances; and Israel had announced, and in some cases implemented, a series of steps to remove physical obstacles within the West Bank, which would only have an impact insofar as the number and the scope of the restrictions being addressed were scaled up significantly.

ReliefWeb

Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Date: 03 Jun 2009

TOKYO, June 3, 2009 (AFP) - Sri Lanka’s trade minister on Wednesday sought Japan’s help for its recovery from ethnic conflict, while reiterating his government’s rejection of any probe into alleged human rights violations.

Colombo has faced allegations that thousands of civilians perished in the final battle last month against Tamil Tiger separatists, as the island starts its recovery from three decades of fighting.

ReliefWeb

SOMALIS fleeing war and hunger at home are pouring into neighbouring Kenya at an average rate of 7000 per month, swelling what is already the world’s largest refugee settlement, UN staff said.

Eighteen years of civil conflict in Somalia show no sign of abatement, with foreign militants joining Islamist rebels seeking to topple a new government that is the 15th attempt to restore central rule since 1991.

The Courier Mail

Source: Human Rights Watch (HRW)

Date: 03 Jun 2009

Government Threats, ‘Disappearances’ After Past Military Victories Are Cause for Concern

(New York) - The Sri Lankan government should ensure that military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam does not result in new “disappearances,” unlawful killings or the jailing of government critics, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Sri Lankan government appears from its statements to be preparing to take action against individuals and organizations that criticized it during the war, Human Rights Watch said. On June 3, 2009, the media minister, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana, said the Defense Ministry was preparing to bring charges against journalists, politicians, armed forces personnel and businessmen who have assisted the LTTE.

ReliefWeb

Are the winds of change indeed sweeping the Middle East or is it my hyperactive imagination coupled with my Obamania that is playing tricks?

Ahead of President Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, a Gallup opinion poll has reported a significant turnaround in the Muslim world’s perception about America following Obama’s election. The poll conducted in 11 Arab countries during Obama’s second month in office shows that although general approval of the US role in the Muslim world remains low, ratings of the US president himself have gone up. I hardly need remind my perceptive readers about Bush’s popularity in the Muslim world.

Arab News

Barack Obama has met King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh as he prepares to make a much-anticipated speech in Cairo aimed at repairing US relations with the Muslim world.

The US president travelled to the king’s farm on Wednesday for talks on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Washington’s overtures to Iran and oil.

Al Jazeera

• Date: 03 Jun 2009
• Type: Complex Emergency
• Keyword(s): Affected Population; Conflict; Internally Displaced Persons
• Format(s):

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Source(s):
- United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - ReliefWeb

ReliefWeb

WASHINGTON, Jun 3 (IPS) - As U.S. President Barack Obama prepares to deliver a major foreign policy speech in Cairo and his administration pushes aggressively for a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine, neoconservatives and other foreign policy hawks back home are calling on him to scrap the two-state solution altogether and consider alternatives to Palestinian statehood.

The most prominent alternative they are pushing is the so-called “three-state solution” or “Jordanian option”, in which the West Bank would be returned to Jordanian control and the Gaza Strip to Egyptian control.

IPS

GENEVA — A team of U.N. investigators will visit Gaza next week to examine whether Israeli troops and Hamas militants committed war crimes during their three-week conflict, the global body said Friday.

The mission led by South African prosecutor Richard Goldstone will depart Geneva for the Middle East on Saturday and is expected to cross into Gaza from Egypt on Monday, the U.N. said in a statement.

Newsvine

ANKARA, Turkey, May 29 (IPS) - What is the relationship between the United States’ policy towards Iran and its performance on Arab-Israeli peacemaking, including the crucial quest for peace between Israel and the Palestinians?

This quest took on new urgency after Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas had his first visit with Pres. Barack Obama in Washington on Thursday. After the meeting, Obama told reporters that “time is of the essence” regarding ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. 

IPS