The current President of the Security Council, Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick of the U.S., has agreed to convene an urgent meeting of that body to discuss the situation on the West Bank, according to the Jordanian Ambassador, Hazem Nuseiba, chairman of the Arab Group at the UN, who met with Kirkpatrick today.
Speaking at a press conference, Nuseibe said he made the request for a Security Council meeting on behalf of the Arab Group. He said a formal written request would be made later this afternoon and that the Security Council will meet probably as early as tomorrow, to take up the outbreak of violent clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian demonstrators on the West Bank.
The Security Council is presently discussing a Nicaraguan complaint that the U.S is plaining to invade Nicaragua and therefore, the issues of the West Bank and Nicoragua will discussed concurrently at separate meetings of the Council, Nuseiba said.
The Jordanian envoy also said he asked Kirkpatrick to urge Washington to intervene in the West Bank situation and he understood she has already done so.
The press conference was addressed by the Palestine Liberation Organization observer at the UN, Zehdi Labib Terzi, who charged that Israeli actions on the West Bank were aimed at provoking the PLO “into a major confrontation.” Terzi repeatedly referred to Israeli actions as a “Nazi” operation and to Israeli soldiers as “Israel SS troops.”
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Javier Peres de Cuellar warned in a statement issued here today through his spokesman that developments on the West Bank “can only increase overall tension in the area at a time when the situation is already extremely volatile.” He said he is “deeply disturbed of the current developments on the West Bank, at the casualties that have occurred in the clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians and the loss of life among the Palestinians.” He appealed “to all concerned to exercise maximum restraint at this difficult time.”
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