UNITED NATIONS (AFP)--The U.N. Security Council resumed debate Tuesday on prospects for an immediate cease fire in the Gaza Strip, amid diplomatic efforts to persuade Israel to end an 11-day military onslaught that has killed 660 Palestinians.
The ministerial meeting, chaired by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, was also attended by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, as well as the Turkish and several Arab foreign ministers.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev also took part, along with Arab League Arab League chief Amr Mussa.
France, in its capacity as president of the 15-member council this month, has been working with Arab states to draw up a draft resolution that would urge an immediate end to the Israeli military offensive in Gaza as well as to rocket fire into Israel by militants in Gaza.
The proposed text would also urge the lifting of the Israeli siege of Gaza to allow humanitarian access to the beleaguered Palestinian population, and an international mechanism to monitor the truce, protect Palestinian civilians and put an end to arms smuggling into Gaza from Egypt.
Speaking to reporters on his way to the meeting, Miliband stressed the need to get into the details of a lasting and effective ceasefire.
He said such a truce should include the reopening by Israel of crossing points into Gaza to allow delivery of humanitarian aid, but should also put a stop to arms smuggling into the territory from Egypt.
However, speaking from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned after conferring with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Tuesday that a Security Council resolution on Gaza would "complicate" the task of achieving peace.
Sarkozy said Mubarak invited Israel and the Palestinians "without delay" to discuss security on the Egypt-Gaza border.
The flurry of international diplomatic activity came on the 11th day of a bloody, Israeli military offensive in Gaza launched with the stated goal of stopping rocket firing into Israel by Palestinian militants.
-Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-5500
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Publié le 06 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones