Palestinians have demanded that the UN Security Council hold an urgent meeting to adopt a resolution to stem the spiralling violence in Middle East and condemn the massive Israeli strikes of the past two days.
"We have sent a letter to the president of the Security Council; we are requesting the Council to take action," the deputy head of the observer mission of Palestine to the United Nations, Marwan Jilani, told reporters on Tuesday. "The specific action is of course up to the Council, but we are looking for action that corresponds to the seriousness of the situation; that would be in the form of a resolution."
Jilani said the resolution should "deal with the attacks and with the Israeli actions against the Palestinian Authority, but in two separate approaches". Israeli missiles and gunships in the last two days carried out the fiercest attacks since the latest cycle of violence began, striking Palestinian targets including Palestinian Authority chief Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah.
It was unclear whether the 15-member Council would act on the demand as requests on three previous occasions for a meet to consider an observer force had gone unheeded in the face of the threat of veto by the US. Jilani, however, said the situation now was different.
The US had said it was mediating but this time, he said, "we have not seen any action in restraining Israeli government or preventing this situation from escalating further."
The US urged Israelis to consider the consequences of its action but stopped short of calling a halt to the bombing. Bureau Report