CARE Position on Middle East Quartet Progress

NEW YORK (September 26, 2008) - On the occasion of the meeting of the Middle East Quartet (composed of Russia, United States, European Union and United Nations) in New York this week, CARE urges the international community and the parties to the conflict to take immediate steps to alleviate the deepening humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza. The Quartet identified 2008 as a crucial year for the Middle East peace process and the period in which to realize agreements made at the Annapolis Conference on November 22, 2007.

Earlier this year, leading international humanitarian organizations expressed concern about the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East and how impediments to movement and access were inhibiting the delivery of aid and services. Six months later, access issues continue to hinder CARE's ability to adequately meet people's basic needs. Other international nongovernmental organizations report similar difficulties in carrying out their humanitarian and development projects and operations and also express concerns about the deterioration in living conditions for ordinary civilians in both Gaza and the West Bank.

CARE urges the Quartet to redouble its efforts to press all parties to:

• Enforce the full implementation of the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access, which was announced by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Jerusalem on November 15, 2005, as a first step toward addressing obstacles to access and movement.
• Work with the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to ensure security concerns are addressed and establish procedures as a first step toward reversing the policy of closure, to manage the crossings and restore full humanitarian and commercial access to Gaza, including specifically:
• Access to urgent medical treatment abroad;
• Essential maintenance and rehabilitation of public services (water, sewage, electricity, public health);
• Resumption of normal fuel imports to enable Gaza's electricity plant to function and ambulances and ordinary transport to run; and
• Ease of movement in and out of Gaza for humanitarian agencies' staffs.
• Agree to a timeline to:
• Widen the definition of humanitarian goods and needs;
• Provide greater support for Egypt to negotiate an opening to the Rafah crossing;
• Secure the opening of Karni crossing; and
• Reactivate all stalled humanitarian and development projects.