Summary
The present report, submitted in compliance with General Assembly resolution 71/126, contains an assessment of the assistance received by the Palestinian people and an assessment of needs still unmet and proposals for responding to them. It provides a description of efforts made by the United Nations, in cooperation with the Government, donors and civil society, to support the Palestinian population and institutions.
During the reporting period (April 2016-March 2017), negative trends on the ground continued, affecting the prospects for peace and realization of the two-State solution. The United Nations continued its efforts to respond to humanitarian and development challenges in the context of occupation.
The 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan, requiring $547 million, outlines the programming to address urgent humanitarian needs throughout the occupied Palestinian territory. In addition, following the damage incurred during the 2014 hostilities, the detailed needs assessment and recovery framework for Gaza estimated needs of $3.9 billion for reconstruction and recovery in Gaza.
The Government of the State of Palestine continued to implement the Palestinian National Development Plan 2014-2016: State-building to Sovereignty and, on 22 February 2017, launched the national policy agenda for 2017-2022. The national policy agenda has three pillars: path to independence, Government reform and sustainable development. It identifies 29 national policies. In the agenda, citizens are “put first” and many of its priorities are aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In support of those efforts, the United Nations continued to implement the United Nations Development Assistance Framework for 2014-2017.
I. Introduction
1. The present report is submitted in compliance with General Assembly resolution 71/126, in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit to it, at its seventy-second session, through the Economic and Social Council, a report on the implementation of that resolution, containing an assessment of the assistance actually received by the Palestinian people and an assessment of the needs still unmet and specific proposals for responding effectively to them. The reporting period is from April 2016 to March 2017.
2. Information on the living and socioeconomic conditions of the Palestinian people is provided in several reports prepared by other United Nations agencies and submitted to various United Nations bodies, in particular: the annual report on the economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan; the annual report of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) (A/71/13); Common Country Analysis 2016: Leave No One Behind — A Perspective on Vulnerability and Structural Disadvantage in Palestine (United Nations country team, occupied Palestinian territory, 2016); and the reports of the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee in April and September 2016.
3. The humanitarian, economic and development needs of the Palestinian people are reflected in several complementary strategic and resource mobilization documents. The 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan seeks $547 million to address the most urgent humanitarian needs, including by enhancing the protective environment and improving access to essential services for the most vulnerable groups throughout the occupied Palestinian territory. The United Nations Development Assistance Framework for 2014-2017 presents the United Nations strategic response to Palestinian development priorities contained in the Palestinian National Development Plan for 2014-2016: State-building to Sovereignty.
4. Throughout the year, the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process continued its efforts to support the peace process and to promote coordination and dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis, the United Nations, the region and the international community.