NEW YORK, December 16, 2006 (WAFA)-Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that the situation in the Palestinian territory is "more dangerous than it has been for a very long time".

In a message to Asian meeting in support of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and delivered by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Angela Kane, Annan said that "mistrust between Israelis and Palestinians has reached new heights," adding that the international community should shoulder its responsibility to help promote a negotiated two-State solution.

"The Gaza Strip has become a cauldron of deepening poverty and frustration, despite the withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlements last year. In the West Bank, too, the situation is dire. Palestinians are deeply dismayed at settlement activity, with thousands of Israelis still living in territories occupied in 1967 and more than 1,000 more added every month," he said.

He noted the impact on the Palestinians of the barrier that Israel is building through their land in the West Bank, in breach of an Advisory Opinion of from the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ), as well as over 500 checkpoints controlling their movement, factors that increase their suffering, despair.

M.H.(1:00 P)(09:00 GMT)