Security council holds open session on middle east

The United Nations Security Council holds an open meeting on the Middle East this Tuesday following a request by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who asked for the session to make a public plea to the two sides to the conflict, a spokesman for Annan announced Monday.

"It will be a chance for him to issue a personal appeal to the leaders of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to get the violence under control, to respond to United States pressure to get back to the negotiating table and to see if we can't get a political process going again," spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters in New York.

Following the open meeting, Council members were "expected to hold closed consultations on the Middle East," he said.

Asked about prospects for a return to the negotiating table, Eckhard said he did not think that events on the ground "allow for optimism at this point." At the same time, he noted that the decision by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "to waive his previous precondition for talking with the Palestinians - that precondition being that there has to be absolute peace, not one stone thrown for seven days - is a positive development." Another positive news, the spokesman said, was that "Yasser Arafat's freedom of movement is in the process of being restored."

"We're pleased that the United States is sending their special envoy, Ambassador Anthony Zinni, back to the Middle East," said Eckhard. He pointed out that a ceasefire framework, which involved the Tenet Understandings and the Mitchell Committee recommendations, was already on the table. Meanwhile new proposals, such as the one put forward by Saudi Arabia, provided a political context, Eckhard noted.

"Gradually, the elements are there, and our hope is that the two sides will now respond positively to both the ceasefire framework and the beginning of political talks," he said.