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The United Nations International Meeting on the Impact of the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including In and Around East Jerusalem, concluded its two-day session in Geneva Friday afternoon with participants urging the international community to help solve this crisis.
A final document issued by the meeting said participants expressed deep concern over the dangerous current and potential humanitarian consequences of the construction of the wall, noting that it would bring further dispossession for a significant number of Palestinians.
They also noted that by destroying, confiscating and putting off limits Palestinian agricultural lands and water sources in the process of the wall construction, Israel dealt another devastating blow to the Palestinian economy, which was on the verge of collapse after three years of destruction and restrictions imposed by the occupying power.
The final document said participants further noted that the protracted and complete lack of dialogue between the parties necessitated an active involvement of the international community.
They reaffirmed the permanent responsibility of the United Nations with respect to all the aspects of the question of Palestine, until it was resolved in conformity with relevant UN resolutions and norms of international law, and until the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people were fully realized.
In remarks after the final document was adopted, the permanent observer of Palestine to UN headquarters in New York, Nasser Al-Kidwa, said that the wall presented the biggest threat to establish peace in the region, made the two-state solution practically impossible and constituted a war crime and thus should be stopped and removed.
Paul Bidja, Chairperson of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which decided to hold the meeting, said the international community should take prompt action to terminate the building of the wall and to resume negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.
(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2004)
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