Arab countries seek new UN push on Israeli barrier
UNITED NATIONS, Thursday (Reuters) Arab nations launched a new
diplomatic offensive against Israel's West Bank barrier at the United
Nations, where the Security Council agreed to hold a next-day debate on
the Middle East.
The 15-nation council, acting at the request of the Arab League,
agreed to schedule the debate on Thursday so long as the discussion was
not limited to the barrier alone, diplomats said.
At the same time, Jean Ping of Gabon, president of the 191-nation
General Assembly, was weighing an Arab request to convene a special
session on the barrier just before a mid-September world summit on U.N.
reform, the diplomats said.
Palestinian U.N. envoy Somaia Barghouti met with Ping on Monday to
request the session, they said.
Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa told Reuters last week the
Palestinian Authority planned to ask the United Nations to take punitive
measures against international companies whose products Israel used in
the barrier project.The diplomatic activity was spurred by the Israeli
Cabinet's announcement this month that it had decided to build another
segment of the barrier around Jerusalem.
Israeli officials acknowledged the move would cut off 55,000
Palestinian residents from the rest of the holy city.
While Israel says the network of walls and fences it is building in
the West Bank and Jerusalem is intended to keep out Palestinian suicide
bombers, Palestinians call it a land grab aimed at undermining creation
of a Palestinian state.
The World Court last year declared construction of the barrier to be
illegal. It said it should be torn down as it was built on West Bank
land rather than along the pre-1967 border separating Israeli and
Palestinian territory.
But Israel said it would ignore the ruling, although it has since
made some adjustments in the barrier's route. |