United Nations, Oct 18 (AFP) - The UN General Assembly began a special emergency session Wednesday on the crisis in the Middle East that was expected to condemn Israel for excessive use of force against Palestinians.
The session was scheduled to adjourn after four opening speeches and to resume on Friday, when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will address the General Assembly after he returns from the Middle East.
In the opening speech, the Palestinian observer to the United Nations, Nasser Kidwa, accused Israel of committing war crimes in the past three weeks of violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
More than 100 people have been killed, the vast majority of them Palestinian.
In reply, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Yehuda Lancry, said the calling of the special session was "a disgraceful abuse of procedure."
The session was called after the UN Security Council turned down a request from Kidwa for a meeting on Thursday. – AFP.
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