Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, delivering a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York on Sunday, accused Israel of ethnic cleansing in the Occupied Territories, while calling on the international community to send peacekeepers to the region.
"The Israeli government is employing state terror against the Palestinians, using fighter-planes, helicopter gunships, tanks, naval vessels and weapons forbidden by international conventions," stated Arafat.
"The Israeli army practices also include assassinations of Palestinian political leaders, demolition of homes, destruction of private and governmental institutions, uprooting hundred of thousands of trees and farms (olives and fruits), practices that included the killing of women, children and old people. 1,800 Palestinians were killed and 37,000 wounded, in which many were handicapped for life, thousands were arrested," added Arafat.
"We call on the international community to end this war and to send observers to protect our people from the ethnic cleansing being carried out by Israel." "Peace will not be achieved without international intervention," Arafat added.
"I call upon the Israeli government and the Israeli people to react positively to this approach, so we can together build peace in the land of peace the Holy Land," concluded Arafat - Albawaba.com
