"If the Palestinians claim that observers are a need, let them negotiate with the Israelis." Shimon Peres Israeli Foreign Minister

The Israelis will insist on a U.S. veto of any Security Council resolution involving any serious observer force. And Shimon Peres willingly serving Ariel Sharon as his Foreign Minister makes it much easier for the Israelis to deflect international pressures.

Meanwhile the Arab "client regimes" remain so weak and co-opted that even under today's increasingly desperate circumstances nothing significant is likely to happen from the "international community" and even if the Americans do veto a Security Council resolution they will not be made to pay the price, as they should.

JERUSALEM (CNN - 15 March) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has appealed to the United Nations to reject a Palestinian proposal for a U.N. observer mission.

Peres told the 15 council members Israel was willing to let a U.S.-led mission investigate the causes of the current violence.

But Palestinian U.N. envoy Nasser al-Kidwa insisted a U.N. force was needed to help protect Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

The two private meetings were a prelude to an open debate in the Security Council scheduled for Thursday on the Palestinian request to revive the U.N. force.

Immediately after the violence broke out in September, Israel said it was open to the idea of a U.S.-led investigation. The Palestinians wanted U.N. involvement, but agreed to a U.S.-led fact-finding commission appointed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Peres cautioned the U.N. Security Council "not to be one-sided" in Thursday's debate on the Palestinian proposal, which is backed by Arab states.

"They don't need a protection force," Peres said after the private meeting. "The minute they stop shooting there won't be any need for protection."

"There is no shortage of anger in the Middle East, and to add anger to anger is not a contribution to peace," Peres said. Any attempt to impose a force without Israel's okay "is really harassing the peace process."

Al-Kidwa said an observer force could help reduce tensions and "Israeli repression against the Palestinians," and possibly restore the peace process "to a status of action and life."

"The situation remains very dangerous ... and we believe that the council remains obligated to act," Al-Kidwa said.

Washington's acting Ambassador to the U.N., James Cunningham, echoed the Israeli view.

"We don't think it's a good idea to pursue a path that isn't supported by both parties. The object is to get both of them back together and working together in a way that they can mutually agree, not to get into games of pushing one side or the other," he said.

In December, the Palestinians failed to muster the necessary nine votes for a U.N. force in the 15-member council. Since that vote, the makeup of the Security Council has changed, with five new non-permanent members being seated.

The United States remains key because if a new resolution gets the necessary nine votes, it could then exercise its veto power to kill it.

The violence that erupted in the West Bank and Gaza in late September after peace talks deadlocked has brought the death toll to 383 Palestinians, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

Israeli officials say that 65 Israeli Jews and 13 Israeli Arabs have also been killed.

Thousands have been injured in the clashes, which have also wrecked some homes and other buildings.

Peres urged the Palestinians to stop shooting and return to peace talks as "you cannot shoot and negotiate at the same time because shooting and talking is like fire and water."

UNITED NATIONS (AP - 13 March) -- The Palestinians called for an immediate Security Council meeting to approve a U.N. force to protect Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, saying Israel has "suffocated" the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian U.N. envoy, Nasser Al-Kidwa, said in a letter Monday that Israel's "bloody military campaign" has gotten worse since the council defeated a resolution to authorize a U.N. observer force in December after an intense U.S. campaign against it.

"The Palestinian people under Israeli occupation are now suffocated and besieged," he said, citing new Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods, including roadblocks, trenches and the bulldozing of paved roads.

"We are calling upon the Security Council to convene an immediate meeting to consider the increasingly dangerous situation on the ground ... with the aim of taking the necessary measures, including the establishment of a United Nations observer force to contribute in providing protection for the Palestinian civilians," Al-Kidwa said in the letter to Security Council president Volodymyr Yel'chenko of Ukraine.

The Palestinian decision to seek an immediate council meeting came hours after Arab ministers meeting in Cairo asked the Security Council to review Israel's tightening blockade of Palestinian territories and create an international force to protect the Palestinians.

Bangladesh's U.N. Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury presented Al-Kidwa's letter to the council Monday afternoon on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement of developing countries, which spearheaded the Palestinians' unsuccessful campaign in December for a U.N. force.

Ukraine's deputy ambassador Valeri Kuchynski said Tuesday that consultations were continuing between countries and within regional groups.

"So far no dates have been agreed upon, and the format of the meeting has not yet been finalized," he said.

Israel opposes a U.N. force, arguing instead for continued direct negotiations between the two sides to end the fighting, which has killed 425 people since September 28, including 349 Palestinians, 57 Israeli Jews and 19 others.

The United States mounted a campaign to block the original Palestinian proposal because Israel objected to it. Diplomats said the United States tried to block discussion of the new Palestinian request in the council on Monday. Israel also reiterated its opposition.

Israel's mission to the United Nations said the Palestinians had started the violence and that to now ask for international intervention was cynical and unacceptable.

Despite a five-week campaign and a personal appeal from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the Palestinians failed to get the necessary nine "yes" votes for a U.N. force in the 15-member council on December 18.

Since that vote, the leadership of Israel and the United States has changed -- and so has the makeup of the Security Council, with five new non-permanent members.

Their positions will likely determine whether the United States might have to veto a new resolution for a force, if one is brought to a vote.

China's deputy U.N. ambassador Shen Guofang, whose country backs the Palestinians, said after Monday's council meeting that "the situation is really very deteriorating, and we hope that the council would discuss the issue ... and hopefully we can take some measures."

Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of Britain, which did not support the December resolution, said the council should "do what is practical" and try to get the peace process going again.

Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian envoy, said "the council has a responsibility" to act quickly and authorize a force because lives are at stake.

Since the December vote, "there were at least 70 to 75 more Palestinians killed in addition to thousands injured. Some of those lives could have been saved," he told The Associated Press. Al-Kidwa said he was hopeful that this time the Palestinians will be successful.

"We assume it will be possible this time," he said. "We will not even try to predict what the new U.S. administration may or may not do. They have their own responsibilities, and they will have to take their decision."

CAIRO, Egypt (AP - 12 March ) -- Arab foreign ministers said Monday that Israel's tightening of a blockade of Palestinian territories will worsen security conditions and urged deployment of international troops to protect the Palestinians.

Israeli troops on Sunday dug trenches and deployed tanks around several Palestinian towns, cutting access to the towns and isolating dozens of villages with tens of thousands of residents.

Farouk Kaddoumi, head of the political department of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told the ministers meeting at Arab League headquarters in Cairo that the Israeli move "has virtually cut the West bank into 40 pieces and Gaza into 5 pieces."

"This step will add to the continuous Israeli measures to isolate the Palestinian people from the outside world and destroy its economy," a statement by the foreign ministers said.

"It also rings the alarm for further deterioration in the security conditions and increases the already heightening tension," the statement said.

The ministers said Arab governments will ask the U.N. Security Council to review the situation and set up an international force to be sent to the territories to protect the Palestinians.

In Israel Monday, new Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened his Cabinet for its first meeting amid sharp disagreement among his ministers over the intensified siege. Ministers from the center-left Labor Party warned that the new policy could backfire and trigger more violence.

Sharon denied that the restrictions were part of a tougher policy toward the Palestinians, saying the army had imposed the tight closure in response to specific warnings about a terror attack. Sharon aides said they believed the closure would be eased in the coming days.

The Arab ministers meeting in Cairo also tried to hammer out an agenda for an Arab summit in Jordan later this month amid differences over what should be the top priority -- the stalled Middle East peace process or the conflict between Iraq and the United Nations.

On Sunday the ministers endorsed a plan to speed up delivery of some $1 billion that an Arab summit in October allocated for the Palestinian Authority. Under the plan, the embattled Authority will receive some $40 million each month to pay for its urgent needs while more money will be funneled for humanitarian purposes.

While the Arab ministers showed unanimity over the Palestinian conflict with Israel, statements made at an opening session Monday indicated wider disagreements over Iraq's decade-long crisis with the United Nations.

Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdul Meguid said differences over Iraq still divide Arabs and warned that without resolution of the Iraqi issue Arabs cannot restore confidence and solidarity.

Algerian Foreign Minister Abdel Aziz Belkhadem said sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait should be immediately lifted.

Under U.N. resolutions, the sanctions that have crippled the Iraqi economy cannot be lifted until Iraq proves it has surrendered weapons of mass destruction.

While expressing sympathy with the Iraqi people suffering under sanctions, Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheik Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani said the sanctions could only be lifted "through a political solution to the (Iraq) crisis based on dialogue and openness."

At an evening session, the ministers spent more than five hours trying to resolve a dispute between Iraq and Kuwait over a draft resolution which they plan to submit to the summit.

Diplomats taking part in the discussions said that Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf insisted the upcoming summit should endorse a resolution calling for the immediate lifting of the sanctions.

But the Kuwaiti delegation vehemently rejected the Iraqi demand, saying Iraq should first apologize for its 1990 invasion of the emirate, according to the diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Kuwaitis, backed by Saudi Arabia, also argued that the lifting of sanctions should be dealt with by the Security Council.

Other ministers, headed by Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, tried to reach a compromise, fearing the dispute could jeopardize the summit.

Mid-East Realities

www.middleeast.org

Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/3/105.htm