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Arafat to Press for U.N. Protection Force
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will visit the United Nations Friday to press for a U.N. protection force to be deployed in the occupied Palestinian territories, a U.N. diplomat said on Wednesday.
Speaking to the press, Netherlands Ambassador to the United Nations Peter Van Walsum, who also chairs the council for the current month, said that arrangements were being made for Arafat to address the 15-member Security Council where the Palestinian leader will made a direct appeal for a U.N. protection force for the Palestinians.
Van Walsum made the announcement after the Security Council discussed the Palestinian request without reaching a conclusion this morning.
Arafat will have private meetings with the members of the Security Council Friday morning, he said.
The call for a U.N. protection force for Palestinians was contained in a letter to the Security Council by Palestinian Observer to the United Nations Nasser Al-Kidwa late last month.
In the letter, Al-Kidwa 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.
He also said that Israel was acting in blatant disregard of understanding reached at Sharm El-Sheikh summit held in Egypt.
The observer urged the Security Council to establish and deploy a U.N. force in all the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israelis and Palestinians are divided over the international protection force. The Palestinians want a U.N. force to protect them because they do not trust Israelis, whose army they have confronted for almost six weeks. And the Israelis do not trust the United Nations.
The recent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians were prompted by a visit on September 28 of Israeli's opposition leader Ariel Sharon to a Jerusalem holy shrine. At least 176 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed in the waves of violence.
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