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Arab League calls on UNSC to force Israel end closure on Lebanon

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Aug 22, IRNA
Arabs-Israel-Peace
Foreign ministers of the Arab League have in an emergency meeting in Cairo agreed unanimously to call on the Security Council to press Israel to end its current aerial and naval closure on Lebanon.

The ministers also agreed to support Lebanon and help it reconstruct the war-ravaged country, as well as supervise the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701.

Furthermore, the Arab states called on the United Nations Security Council to oversee renewed talks between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

The proposal, set forth by Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, calls for UN Security Council members to convene in September to discuss UN mediation of Israeli-Arab peace-talks.

"We all agree that the peace process failed, and that we therefore need to get to the bottom of the matter with the mediation of the UN and the Security Council," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa said.

"As a reminder, we have the Arab peace plan which was approved during the 2003 Arab Summit," Mousa added.

In related development, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said that in the wake of the recent war with Lebanon, Israel has a new opportunity to reach a peace treaty with Beirut.

Siniora added that in order for Israel to take advantage of the momentous opportunity, it must act wisely.

"I believe that if Israel acts wisely, a possibility can be created in the area to allow us to advance to peace," he said.

Meanwhile, the Israel army denied that its recent raid in eastern Lebanon near Baalbek was a breach of the UN-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Following the Israeli commando raid on Saturday, however, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed deep concern over the incident, saying that it represented a violation of the ceasefire.

"The secretary-general is deeply concerned about a violation by the Israeli side of the cessation of hostilities as laid out in Security Council resolution 1701," said a UN statement posted on the organization's website.

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