Palestine, new member in Arab Social and Economic Council

The 70th session of the Arab League's Social and Economic Council held in Cairo on Wednesday welcomed Palestine as a new member and decided to relieve Palestinian products of customs tariffs.

Arab ministers of finance and economy, at the end of the council session on Wednesday, also called on the United Nations to urge Israel to compensate for the heavy damage its occupation forces have inflicted on the infrastructures of Palestinian economy.

The council, whose sessions were chaired by Kuwaiti Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Administrative Affairs Yousef Al-Ibrahim, also urged the UN to exert effective pressure on Israel to force it withdraw its forces from Palestinian territory and allow the Palestinian People to attain independence.

The participating Arab officials affirmed their countries' commitment to securing financial and material support for the Palestinian People.

They also decided to keep the Palestinian economy permanently on the agenda of the council's regular annual sessions held in September, until the end of the Israeli occupation.

Meanwhile, the officials were briefed about the extent of the damage inflicted on the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The World Bank had estimated Palestinian losses at 13.5 billion dollars, since the flare-up of the Palestinian uprising for independence on September 28, 2000, until the end of 2001.