Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=9-15-02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=SYRIA / IRAQ (L-O)

NUMBER=2-294081

BYLINE=ELAINE JOHANSON

DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS

INTERNET=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Syria today (Sunday) challenged the United States to enforce U-N resolutions on Israel, calling the actions of the Jewish state toward the Palestinians a major destabilizing factor in the region. V-O-A correspondent Elaine Johanson reports from U-N headquarters in New York.

TEXT: In a formal address to the U-N General Assembly, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara suggested the United States supports a double standard, when it allows Israel to snub U-N demands, while insisting Iraq be held accountable. Mr. al-Shara, speaking through an interpreter, said the Security Council has adopted no fewer than 28 resolutions related to Israel, all of which Israel chooses to ignore.

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Is it reasonable for the world to request Iraq to implement Security Council resolutions, while some assist Israel in being above international law?

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Arab ministers attending the new session of the General Assembly have been meeting on the sidelines to try to avert a threatened U-S military strike on Iraq. They have asked Iraq's foreign minister to urge Saddam Hussein to be flexible, and allow unfettered access to U-N weapons inspectors.

But what they see as a lack of progress on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is a constant theme in their public appeals to the world body. Arab governments believe the United States is hurting its own case against Iraq by allowing Israel to persist in military actions in the occupied territories.

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If most Arab states are uncomfortable with the position Iraq has put them in, they are convinced, at the same time, that Israel is their biggest problem, and U-S support for Israel their biggest frustration.

Meanwhile, most of the world's leaders and ministers attending the U-N session have acknowledged in their remarks the instability caused by the persistence of the Palestinian crisis. The vast majority also have expressed reservations about using force against Iraq, even though they support the overall goal of ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq repeatedly has said it does not have the banned weapons, and has attached conditions to the resumption of inspections. (signed)

NEB/UN/EJ/TW