Israel held at bay in UN for its settlement policy

The Arab group at the UN has managed to put the issues of illegal settlements and reparation of refugees on the declaration adopted by a special meeting of the world organization's General Assembly.

Earlier Sunday, the UN concluded the meeting on human settlements following gruelling debate. Israel and its allies, including the US, tried to no avail to block the Arab efforts against Jewish settlements. The Israeli maneuvers included a bid to drive a wedge among the developing countries and a threat to block finances to the Nairobi-based UN Center on Human Settlements, also known as the Habitat.

The Arab countries in cooperation with Iran, the current president of the Group of 77 have succeeded to incorporate references into the declaration adopted by the meeting to enable peoples under occupation to have access to their rights, said Ahmed Abul Gheit, Egypt's Ambassador to the UN.

The Arab states will seek to make use of this significant development in the period ahead as part of their efforts to drum up world support for the Palestinian people's rights, he said.

He cited a direct reference in the declaration to the issue of the Israeli settlements.

The Arab argument was that any conference on human settlements should draw a line between legal settlements and those that violate the international law, said Abul-Gheit.

The Jewish settlements have not been recognized by the internations1 law.