The UN Security Council expects to give a hearing Friday to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is seeking to have an international force sent to protect Palestinian civilians, diplomats said.
"I think that there may be an arrangement for him to talk at the Council, and I think that would be very useful," the British ambassador to the United Nations, Jeremy Greenstock, told reporters.
The 15 members of the Security Council on Wednesday began to discuss in a closed session the situation in the Middle East, with Arafat due to arrive in Washington Thursday for a meeting with US President Bill Clinton.
In a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Monday, Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, repeated the Palestinian request for deployment of a UN Protection Force comprising 2,000 military observers to protect Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Diplomats here, speaking under condition of anonymity, said it was virtually decided that Arafat would speak before the Security Council, but that the council still had to decide whether it would hear the Palestinian leader in a closed-door session or in a public debate -- UNITED NATIONS (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
