The UN Security Council's 15 member-nations warned Israel late on Friday against carrying out a decision to remove Yasser Arafat, setting a public meeting for Monday on the crisis in the region.
"Council members expressed the view that the removal of Mr.
Arafat would be unhelpful and must not be implemented," said
a statement read to reporters by Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry
of Britain, the council president for September.
The Palestinians on Friday called on the U.N. Security Council to demand that Israel not expel Arafat and halt any threats to his safety.
The Security Council meeting came at the request of Angola, representing the Non-Aligned Movement of 116 mostly developing countries.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has also urged Israel not to remove Arafat, calling it "dangerous and ounterproductive," said U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard.
Earlier in the day, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell reiterated to Israel's Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom during a phone conversation that the U.S. is opposed to the implementation of a decision to expel Arafat.
Powell also called Palestinian Minister Nabil Sha'ath to inform him that the U.S. had made clear to Israel its opposition to expelling the Palestinian leader, media reports said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that Powell and
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice were in contact with Mideast officials in the region in hope of keeping the crisis from escalating further.
McClellan warned that expelling Arafat would "only serve to give him a broader stage." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
