UNSCO

The United Nations cooperates with regional and international partners in efforts to defuse tensions, encourage improvements on the ground, and advance political negotiations toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East based on all relevant Security Council resolutions, international law and previous agreements..

The Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) supports UN peacemaking efforts in various ways, including by advising and assisting the Secretary-General in his Middle East diplomacy and by overseeing UN political activities based in the region aimed at furthering peace efforts, preventing an escalation of the conflict, coordinating humanitarian aid and development assistance, and supporting Palestinian state-building efforts.

In addition to making his own diplomatic “good offices” available to the parties, the Secretary-General is a principal member of the Middle East Quartet (composed of the United States, the Russian Federation, the European Union, and the United Nations), established in 2003 to coordinate the international community's support to the peace process. The Secretary-General also works to ensure close cooperation in international peacemaking efforts with the League of Arab States, other regional stakeholders, and the broader international community.

DPPA also assists the Secretary-General’s crisis management activities, which include his direct involvement in efforts to prevent the recurrence of violence.  Senior officials of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, particularly the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Process, provide regular briefings to the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East and the state of the peace process.

The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Secretary-General's Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority is the focal point on the ground for UN support in all political and diplomatic efforts related to the peace process – including as UN Envoy to the Middle East Quartet. The Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO), was established in June 1994 following the signing of the Oslo Accords. UNSCO is also responsible for coordinating the activities of more than twenty UN agencies, funds and programmes on humanitarian and development assistance to the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people. It is a field office of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs with presence in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Gaza.