Palestinian Authority denied full membership in International Parliament

In the International Parliament's concluding session, Ali Khalil the head of the Lebanese parliamentary delegation requested that the International Court of Justice form a committee to investigate Israeli crimes against civilians in south Lebanon. He appealed to all parliamentarians to request their governments to support Lebanon, to pressure Israel in order to release the Lebanese prisoners, to support the right of the Lebanese people in defending themselves against the Israeli aggression, and to support the request that Israel should start on both the Lebanese and Syrian tracks at the same time.

Al Khalil condemned Israel's attempts to change the geographical nature of Jerusalem in order to determine in its favor in the final negotiations, and ignoring the international resolutions. He reiterated his country's support for the land for peace principle.

He lauded the parliamentarians who voted in favor of the Lebanese request for the implementation of the Security Council resolution No. 425.

In related news, the International Parliament refused to grant complete membership to the Palestinian Authority in spite of the fact that the representatives of the Arab and African groups agreed to pass this request and in addition to the abstention of the representative of the Latin America group.