The Saudi government on Friday urged the international community to throw its weight behind the Palestinians in the face of clashes with Israeli forces that have killed several dozen Arabs.
"The Saudi government calls on the international community, the UN Security Council and its permanent members, especially the United States, to assume their responsibilities and adopt the necessary measures to lend their support to the Palestinian people," the foreign ministry said.
"The international community should help the Palestinians recover their legitimate rights and establish their independent state with Jerusalem as capital," it said, in a statement carried by the official news agency SPA.
The Security Council early Friday wrapped up a five-hour discussion without agreeing on a draft resolution condemning Israel's "excessive use of force" in Jerusalem and the West Bank, diplomats in New York said.
In a rare demonstration for the conservative Gulf states, almost 2,000 people escorted by police held an anti-Israeli rally in the northern Saudi town of Sakkaka near the Jordanian border late Wednesday, witnesses said.
"Jerusalem is Arab and Muslim. No normalization with Israel. The intafada (uprising) must continue," they chanted, as dozens of car drivers joined the peaceful demonstration.
Similar demonstrations have been staged around the United Arab Emirates, in Oman and Yemen to denounce Israel's use of force against protesters in the Palestinian territories, and another was planned in Qatar on Friday.
Seventy-six people, almost all Arabs, have been killed in a week of clashes in the territories and Israel - RIYADH (AFP)
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