By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service and Reuters
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday threw his support behind his special envoy to the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, who was declared unwanted in Palestinian territories by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
"The secretary general wishes to express his full support and confidence in Mr. Roed-Larsen as a special coordinator for the Middle East peace process and his special representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestine Authority," said spokeswoman Marie Okabe.
"Mr. Roed-Larsen speaks on behalf of the secretary-general," Okabe said.
Arafat declared Roed-Larsen "persona non grata" in Palestinian territories after the UN envoy criticized him and the Palestinian administration in Ramallah for "passivity and inaction" in reforming security and moving on with the peace plan drawn up by the UN, the European Union, the United States and Russia - the so-called Quartet.
"Terje Roed-Larsen's statement is not objective. As of today he is an unwelcome person in Palestinian territories," Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeineh told Reuters on Wednesday.
Roed-Larsen met with the UN Security Council Tuesday in New York for a monthly assessment of the situation in the Middle East. He used the occasion, as he has in the past, to criticize both Israel and the Palestinian Authority for failing to meet targets in the Quartet peace plan, which includes establishing a Palestinian state next year.
"The Palestinian Authority was in deep distress, and is in real danger of collapse," he said. But Roed-Larsen said the collapse could be caused by Israeli military incursions into Palestinian territories
Although Arafat remains confined to his West Bank headquarters under virtual house arrest, surrounded by Israel Defense Forces troops, Larsen said, "this is not an excuse for passivity and inaction."
"All those who yearn for peace have already and repeatedly argued President Arafat, in public and in private, [must] take immediate action to restore this diminished credibility," Larsen said.
Larsen also criticized Israel for failing to remove illegal settlement outposts and freeze settlement building.
"The Israeli government has made no progress either on its core obligation to immediately dismantle the settlement outposts created since March 2001 and to move towards a complete freeze of settlement activities," Larsen said.
Referring back to the Palestinian failure to implement reforms, Larsen said "Israel's lack of compliance on this sensitive issue of settlements is equally frustrating."
