Arab Nations Demand UN Probe of Israeli Violence

by Gustavo Capdevila

The proposed investigation should also suggest some form of sanctions, stressed Algerian diplomat, Mohamed Saleh Dembri, current president and spokesman of the League of Arab States.

Arab representatives seeking the inquiry have been lobbying the special session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, now meeting here in Geneva.

The idea to create an investigative committee originated with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat during unfruitful contacts last week in Paris with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Israel has not looked kindly upon the Palestinian proposal, which has turned into another stumbling block for the Middle East negotiations underway.

The UN Security Council also stressed the importance of establishing a mechanism to quickly and objectively investigate "the tragic events" in the Palestinian territories of the last two weeks.

The initiative was taken up again by the Arab nations, who were buoyed in their position to seek an inquiry after obtaining approval from 48 of the 53 member countries of the Commission on Human Rights to call a special session on the Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Never before has the UN commission reacted so overwhelmingly in favor of -- or against -- a special session, "nearly unanimously," Dembri pointed out.

Russia, Liberia and Botswana -- all member states -- did not respond to the UN commission's consultation, apparently due to communications problems with their foreign ministries.

Canada abstained from voting on the special commission, while the United States was the only nation to vote against it.

Unanimous support, noted a Latin American diplomat, came from the eight countries from the European Union that are members of the Commission on Human Rights: Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal and Spain,

Public opinion influenced the decision of the European governments, and the vote of those from other regions, said the diplomat, as people the world over have been shocked by the images of the violence in the Palestinian territories over the last two weeks.

Nations of the Arab world and of the Organization of the Islamic Conference attribute the crisis to "the provocation" they say occurred with the Sept. 28 visit of Israel's hard-line Likud party leader, Ariel Sharon, to the compound of the al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, a site both Jews and Moslems consider holy.

Moslems view Sharon's visit as a defilement of the shrine, the third holiest place in Islam.

The UN Commission on Human Rights must determine who is responsible for triggering the violence, said Dembri.

Other blocs of members within the UN Commission on Human Rights reacted with caution to the Arab nations' petition to set up an international inquiry.

In initial contacts, the blocs requested a draft of the resolution being written by Egyptian diplomats. "We would like to know what the investigative commission's mandate would be," said the Latin American diplomat.

Dembri mentioned the possibility that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, might visit the Palestinian territories with a "very clear" mandate.

Another alternative, he said, would be to invest the UN special diplomats on human rights with the authority to investigate and reach conclusions about the violence there.

The special commission is to begin its three days of sessions Oct 18 at the UN in Geneva.