UN holds emergency Mid-East debate

Palestinians say excessive force used against the protesters

By Mark Devenport in New York

The United Nations General Assembly will hold a special emergency session to discuss the crisis in the Middle East on Wednesday, despite objections from the United States.

Washington's ambassador at the UN, Richard Holbrooke, has described a draft assembly resolution condemning Israel as one-sided. P>

The Assembly's actions will undermine their own secretary-general... purely to use the Assembly as a forum to beat up on Israel Quote Here

Richard Holbrooke

The meeting was called after the UN Security Council rejected a Palestinian request for an emergency meeting to discuss last week's Israeli rocket attacks on Gaza and the West Bank.

The draft resolution drawn up by Arab members of the UN condemns what it describes as the excessive use of force by the Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians.

A 'useless' body

Washington's UN ambassador, Richard Holbrooke, predicts that the assembly session will be one-sided, outrageous and wrong-headed.

Holbrooke: Strong objection to meeting

Pointing out that the ceasefire agreement reached by Israeli and Palestinian leaders at Sharm el-Sheikh remained fragile, Mr Holbrooke described the General Assembly, which includes representatives of all the UN's member states, as "frankly a useless body at this point".

Despite Washington's strenuous objections, UN officials say the assembly debate will go ahead.

Amendment

Palestinian representatives indicate that the resolution they have already circulated will be amended to take the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement into account.

Words can inflame or soothe, and everyone needs a restoration of calm to create the best possible atmosphere for a resumption of peace talksQuote Here

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

Stressing the importance of restoring calm to the Middle East, the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, has called on members of the international community to weigh their words carefully in the coming days.

Whilst the United States can block any move it does not like in the UN Security Council by exercising its power of veto, it cannot stop the General Assembly passing a resolution condemnatory of Israel.

General Assembly decisions carry moral weight. But they do not have quite the same kind of binding force as a resolution approved by the Security Council.