NEW YORK, 5 April — Saudi Arabia has said Israel is resisting moves to bring about peace to the Middle East region.
In his address to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Saudi Ambassador to the United Nations Fawzi Shubokshi said the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been acting as if repressive measures on the Palestinians will ensure Israel’s security.
Shubokshi urged the Security Council to continue applying pressure on Israel until it complies with the UN resolutions. The ambassador called for an immediate end to the Israeli aggression, including the siege on the Palestinians, particularly on their leader Yasser Arafat.
He also demanded immediate Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories in line with the UN resolutions.
Shubokshi also called for the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. He identified occupation as the root cause of the Middle East crisis.
“The occupation has jeopardized peace and security in the region, and paved the way for terrorism and violence,” he said. “It is the right of the Palestinians to struggle for the liberation of their land as Israel has no right to be either in the West Bank or Gaza.”
Shubokshi noted that the inhuman practices of the occupying forces in Palestine did not conform to the spirit of the Geneva agreement.
Shubokshi said Israel should realize the fact that it would never silence the voice of the Palestinians by force.
He said the endorsement of the Saudi peace initiative by the Beirut summit last week, provided clear evidence of the keenness of the Arabs to realize peace in the region.
Saudi Ambassador to Britain Ghazi Al-Gosaibi said yesterday that Arab diplomats in London met with British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ben Bradshaw to brief him about the growing anger in the Arab and Islamic world over the brutal Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people. “The Arab ambassadors told the British minister that Sharon is dragging the whole region to the brink of a devastating war,” Al-Gosaibi said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian sources said Israeli troops had arrested several members of a Palestinian delegation heading for Jeddah to attend the COMDEX 2002, which concluded here yesterday.
