Arab Nations Seek U.N. Protection Force for PalestiniansArab states Thursday urged the United Nations Security Council to establish and deploy a protection force in the occupied Palestinian territories.The call was enclosed in a letter to the Security Council sent by Said Hassan of Iraq in his capacity as chairman of the Arab Group and on behalf of the member states of the League of Arab States. "I have the honor to request the convening of an urgent meeting of the Security Council to consider the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory including Jerusalem and the establishment of a United Nations protection force to be deployed in the occupied Palestinian territory including Jerusalem to provide needed protection to the Palestinian civilian population," he said. The move came after Palestinian U.N. Observer Nasser-Al-Kidwa made the same call Wednesday in a letter to the 15-member Security Council. In his letter, Al-Kidwa also said it had "become very clear that Israel is... persisting with its campaign of terror against the Palestinian people" in violation of the Fourth Convention on the protection of civilians in time of war. The observer also said Israel was acting in blatant disregard of understanding reached at the Sharm El-Sheikh summit held last week in Egypt. Palestinians early this month wanted the Security Council to convene an urgent meeting on the recent Middle East violence but failed due to the boycott of the United States, a strong ally of Israel. Supported by the Arab nations, Palestinians sought an emergency special session of the General Assembly which was held on October 18 and 20. A resolution was adopted at the end of the meeting which condemned the excessive use of force by the Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians. Brokered by the international community, Israel and Palestinian leaders met last week in Egypt where they agreed to take steps to end the violence prompted by the visit on September 28 of Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon to a Jerusalem holy shrine. |
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