UN Council Sets First Mideast Debate in Six Weeks

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 13, 2002

UN Council Sets First Mideast Debate in Six Weeks

At the request of Arab nations, the U.N. Security Council scheduled its first public debate in six weeks on the Middle East crisis for Thursday, council diplomats said.

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At the request of Arab nations, the U.N. Security Council scheduled its first public debate in six weeks on the Middle East crisis for Thursday, council diplomats said.

The council's 15 member-nations agreed to a debate during closed-door talks on Wednesday, the envoys said, adding the United States had vowed to oppose any move at this time to cap the discussions with a resolution or other council action.

After staging almost daily public debates on the Middle East earlier this year after Israeli troops smashed into West Bank cities following a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings, the council last held a public meeting on the crisis on May 3.

The debates tapered off after Arab states concluded they had little impact on Israeli policy.

The Palestinian U.N. observer, Nasser al-Kidwa, asked the council to consider a new public debate after Israeli forces again surrounded the compound of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah.

Several council resolutions voted this year have called on Israel to leave Arafat alone, and Israeli forces withdrew from the compound late on Wednesday.

Arab nations, in a letter from Bahrain Ambassador Jassim Mohammed Buallay, had also requested an emergency Security Council meeting this week, "to consider the extremely grave and deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territories including Jerusalem."

Syrian Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe, who is chairing the council this month, was to preside over Thursday's meeting.

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