A United Nations envoy in Paris said Tuesday that “the only way” to solve the Palestinian refugee problem is through negotiations and the types of initiatives discussed at the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis peace conference last year. “At Annapolis, the international community came together to support efforts that would lead to an end of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians; an end to the occupation that began in 1967; the creation of a viable, independent, sovereign and democratic Palestinian State in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; and the groundwork for a comprehensive regional peace, " said Angela Kane, U.N. assistant secretary-general for political affairs. Kane was speaking at a meeting sponsored by the U.N. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people. “We give our full support to this process and to the negotiations under way between the parties, " Kane said. “They are the only way to settle the conflict and address all permanent status issues, including that of the refuges,” she added. The Annapolis peace conference was organized by U.S. President George W. Bush, who hosted the Maryland meeting in November 2007. --MORE
