“They have undermined efforts to curb violence and fueled hatred and anger towards Israel,” Annan (AFP)

UNITED NATIONS, December 2 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Monday, December 1, that he felt the “deepest solidarity” with continued suffering of the Palestinians, just days after he condemned Israel’s violation of international law and blowing prospects for peace in the restive region.

Speaking in a speech to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People marking International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Annan complained that Israeli actions have enhanced misery and feelings of helplessness among Palestinians, Voice of America reported.

Annan cited extra-judicial killings, expansion of settlements and the separation wall that cuts into Palestinian territory.

“They have undermined efforts to curb violence and fueled hatred and anger towards Israel,” he continued.

“I wish to join with those from around the world who today express the deepest solidarity with the Palestinian people in their continued suffering. They remain stateless and oppressed,” Annan was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.

He added that his remarks did not mean to “ignore the suffering of the people of Israel” and said there was “no justification" for Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

“The terrible events of the past three years, and the dire situation on the ground today, should be proof to all that the more each side harms the other, the more it wounds itself,” he said.

In a report to the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, November 28, Annan acknowledged Israel's “right and duty” to protect its citizens.

But he added: “That duty should not be carried out in a way that is in contradiction to international law”.

He was referring to Israel’s insistence to build the separation wall, which it claims necessary to protect its citizens against Palestinian bombers, despite world-wide waves of criticism.

But the Palestinians charge that it is intended to predetermine the borders of any independent state they obtain in the future and evade pullout from occupied land, as many resistance groups maintain that attacks would be stopped only with an end to the occupation.

Annan, and many other international parties, backed Palestinian complaints, agreeing the wall is depriving them of fertile land crucial to their economy, already troubled by a long-standing occupation and almost-daily incursions.

No Substitute

Annan also praised an alternative peace plan put together by Israeli opposition politicians and prominent Palestinians that was launched to great fanfare in Geneva earlier Monday.

“The efforts of civil society are, however, no substitute for official action. The government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority have made solemn commitments, and they must act to meet them,” he said.

“The parties must be judged not by their stated intentions but by their actions on the ground,” he said.

Annan urged both sides to enact the so-called road map, a peace plan endorsed by the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia, that envisions the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

Both Israel and the Palestinians have blamed the other side for failing to take the steps outlined in the plan, which has stalled because of the ongoing bloodshed.

“Let us resolve not to rest until the Palestinian people finally obtain what is rightfully theirs," Annan said, "the exercise of their inalienable rights in a sovereign and independent state of Palestine”.