Annan Urges UN Security Council to Help Bring Peace to Middle East

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 13, 2002

Annan Urges UN Security Council to Help Bring Peace to Middle East

United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to lend its full authority and influence to the vital cause of peace in the Middle East.

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United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to lend its full authority and influence to the vital cause of peace in the Middle East.

In a statement at a public meeting of the Security Council, Annan also urged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to lead their peoples away from disaster.

Annan expressed the hope that both leaders will engage constructively with U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni in a renewed and intensified dialogue on the political, security and economic dimensions of the peace process. The alternative, for both sides, is continued bloodshed -- delaying even further the prospects for an end to the occupation and the violence, according to the secretary-general.

Annan described the Israeli-Palestinian crisis as appalling, saying that Israeli-Palestinian tensions "are at boiling point" and "the situation is the worst in 10 years."

"The scale of the carnage is horrifying," Annan said. Since the beginning of the current crisis in September 2000, there have been some 1,200 fatalities among the Palestinians and more than 180 of them have occurred in the last 10 days. On the Israeli side, some 350 fatalities have been reported, with well over 50 occurring in the same 10 days, according to Annan.

Annan criticized Israel for the increasing use of heavy weaponry in civilian areas and urged Israel to end the "illegal occupation" of Arab land and more urgently to stop the bombing of civilian areas, the assassinations, the unnecessary use of lethal force, the demolitions, and the daily humiliation of ordinary Palestinians.

"Such actions gravely erode Israel's standing in the international community, and further fuel the fires of hatred, despair and extremism among Palestinians," he said.

In the statement, Annan said he was particularly disturbed by suicide attacks by Palestinians which deliberately target civilians, spreading fear and anxiety throughout the general population.

He urged Palestinians to stop all acts of terror and all suicide bombings, saying the deliberate and indiscriminate targeting of civilians is morally repugnant and is doing immense harm to their cause by weakening international support.

Annan also appealed to the leaders of the Arab world not to give up on the search for peace.

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