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AL official warns U.S. not to veto Arab draft on Israeli settlements
(Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Arab League(AL) on Sunday warned the United States not to use its veto power to abort an Arab draft resolution calling for halting Israeli settlement activities, the Egyptian state MENA news agency reported. A possible U.S. veto to reject the Arab draft, which is expected to be discussed by the UN Security Council this week, would result in "catastrophic consequences" on the Mideast peace process, AL Assistant Secretary General for Palestinian Affairs Mohammed Sobaih was quoted as saying. The Israeli settlement practices had "exceeded all limits and was an affront to all international resolutions," said Sobaih. According to earlier reports, Arab countries referred the draft resolution to the UN Security Council after Israeli Housing Minister Zeev Boim announced a tender for establishing more than 800 housing units in east Jerusalem earlier this month. Sobaih expressed his hope that Washington would not go ahead with that veto "because using it will help flare up extremism and anarchy in the region." The Israeli settlement move was supposed to have stopped after last November's Annapolis conference, but instead it "escalated at an extremely critical rate," said Sobaih. According to statistics, Israel has approved the construction of about 2,000 homes in disputed lands since renewing peace talks with the Palestinians at the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis conference. Few tangible results of the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks have so far been achieved. The Palestinian side considers Israel's settlements activities a major obstacle that obstructs any development in the peace process. Posted by: Fred 2008-06-23 |
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