UN General Assembly
2004

The recently enlarged European Union has also been progressively enhancing its cooperation with the United Nations at both the regional and higher levels. The Secretary-General refers in his report on the work of the Organization (A/59/1) to the significant progress in EU/United Nations cooperation on conflict prevention, peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction, as well as in crisis management activities. One area in which the EU and the United Nations are active and important partners concerns the question of Palestine. As members of the Quartet, the EU and the United Nations play a significant role by injecting a much-needed balance and objectivity into an issue tormented by violence and passion. Both the EU and the United Nations are by right major stakeholders in the issue. History and geographical proximity underpin the special interest of all EU member States in the prosperity and well-being of both Israelis and Palestinians. The creation and peaceful coexistence of two neighbouring States, Israel and Palestine, was one of the United Nations very first, but unfortunately still unfulfilled, recommendations. After decades of bitterness and wrong turns, the