Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 26, 1990 TAG: 9005260097
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GENEVA LENGTH: Medium
Arafat called for an end to Israel's 23-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a ban on Jewish settlements in the territories, and international sanctions against Israel.
"The situation now requires urgent action in order to enforce reverence for international legitimacy," the Palestine Liberation Organization chief said. "Over 30 months, the Israeli occupation forces have been waging a war of extermination on all fronts."
Arafat said the Palestinian uprising, which began in December 1987, would continue until Israel is ousted from the occupied areas, home to 1.7 million Palestinians.
He urged appointment of a permanent U.N. envoy to monitor the situation, a Security Council investigation into "all crimes" by Israel against Palestinians, and immediate preparations for an international Middle East peace conference.
Initial responses from other delegates were largely non-committal. France and the Soviet Union said the council should consider a U.N. observer force.
In Israel, a top aide to Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Arafat's speech was "full of lies and distortions."
Secretary of State James Baker reiterated in Washington the United States' opposition to stationing a U.N. observer force in the territories but said the "idea of the secre- tary-general sending one of his top aides to take a look at the situation and return is something quite different."
Baker also said he believed some people misinterpreted a statement he made Wednesday, when he said the Bush administration was willing to discuss sending observers into the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The comment had touched off speculation the United States would support permanent observers.
Asked to appraise Arafat's speech, Baker said he had not read it.
Arab delegations called the emergency meeting of the 15-nation Security Council to consider ways to quell a surge of Arab-Israeli clashes in the territories and Israel.
The violence followed the killing of seven unarmed Arab workers by an Israeli on Sunday.
Arafat challenged Israel's claim that Sunday's killings were the act of an isolated madman, saying "the primary responsibility falls on the insanity and derangement of the whole system."
The council's session was shifted from New York to Geneva to allow Arafat to speak. Arab delegations wanted to avoid a showdown with the United States, which has barred the PLO chief from entry in the past.
After a six-hour debate, the council session was adjourned until today with no decisions made.
The session is likely to resume Tuesday in New York, U.N. spokesman Francois Giuliani said.
by CNB