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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.

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