The U.N. Security Council set yet another debate on the Middle East on Monday. Council members agreed to hold their seventh meeting in 11 days on the Middle East crisis.
Council members held more than two hours of closed-door talks on the situation on Sunday, at the request of Arab nations, and afterward issued a statement expressing their deep concern that repeated calls for an Israeli withdrawal had appeared to fall on deaf ears.
"In particular, there must be a cease-fire and Israel must withdraw its forces from Palestinian cities without delay," council members said in a statement read by Ambassador Sergei Lavrov of Russia, this month's council president. "The continuation of violence by the power in control of the events on the ground is unacceptable," Lavrov said.
According to Reuters, Syrian Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe said Arab states had urgently called for Sunday's meeting because "Israel did not start to withdraw," in compliance with the earlier council resolutions. "Even Condoleezza Rice said Israel must withdraw today and not tomorrow," said Wehbe, referring to Bush's national security adviser.
But Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Lancry told reporters the council did not intend an Israeli withdrawal to be a unilateral step but one linked to Palestinian measures including the "cessation of terrorist acts."
In addition to Monday afternoon's public debate, council members also decided to call in Lancry and Palestinian U.N. envoy Nasser al-Kidwa on Monday morning for separate private meetings with council members.
Sunday's statement was the latest in a string of council calls for an Israeli withdrawal since the Jewish state sent troops into West Bank towns to "root out terrorist infrastructure" after a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings.
A resolution voted by the council last weekend demanded an immediate "meaningful cease-fire" and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities including Ramallah, where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat remains holed up by tanks.
Another resolution, approved on Thursday, endorsed Bush's initiative to send Powell to the region and demanded Israel withdraw from Palestinian cities "without delay."
With a withdrawal still not in the works, Wehbe said on Sunday that Syria might propose yet another council resolution to address the situation. But he was not circulating a draft text at this time, council envoys said. "No text. Not at the moment," said British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock.
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
