Arab leaders time for broad West Asia peace talks

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 22 (Reuters) Arab leaders and the UN secretary-general has urged the UN Security Council to get involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying the war in Lebanon showed the danger of leaving the core West Asia dispute unresolved.

Israel objected, saying there were enough forums outside the council dealing with the issue. The United States agreed and prevented the Security Council from issuing a closing statement, diplomats said.

Still, the Arab League and Greece, which holds the council presidency, managed to gather foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, for a debate on reviving the peace process and ending all Arab-Israeli conflicts.

''Like no other conflict, the Arab-Israeli conflict carries a powerful symbolic and emotional charge for people throughout the world,'' Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. ''And our continued failure to resolve this conflict calls into question the legitimacy and the effectiveness of this council itself.'' He said the Security Council's role in bringing about a cease-fire in the Lebanese-Israeli conflict this summer showed it could play a role in the search for peace in the region.

But he said all parties needed a bridge ''long enough to span the enormous gulf of mistrust that separates the parties, and strong enough to withstand the efforts that will inevitably be made to sabotage it.'' Bahrain's foreign minister, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, presented the Arab League's proposal that asked Annan to prepare a report, including a time frame, on means to resume direct talks among all the parties and what role the Security Council and other bodies should play.

''If we lose this chance, we will all be losers,'' Sheikh Khaled told the council. ''We have a good chance now to obtain peace and should not allow it to slip away.'' He said Arab nations still demanded Israel's full withdrawal from the Palestinian territory, a resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem and creation of a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital.

Rice as well as British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett urged foreign ministers to support efforts of the quartet of West Asia mediators, which includes the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

''Together, with other members of the quartet, we have called upon the Palestinian Authority to commit to the three principles of the quartet: renouncing terror and violence, recognizing the right of Israel to exist and accepting previous agreements and obligations,'' Rice said.

Only Israel sent its UN ambassador, Dan Gillerman, rather than Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to the meeting, chaired by Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis.

Gillerman said Israel was hesitant in attending the meeting because ''our experience has not always shown that this forum was helpful in generating peace.'' Negotiations, he said, should be among the parties themselves, recalling Livni had spoken to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in New York a few days ago to ''re-energize the dialogue between us.'' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said both the Security Council and UN General Assembly had a role to play but cautioned the search for peace was not a one-day affair confined to speeches.

He said an all-or-nothing approach ''would be counterproductive'' and ''plunge the region into confrontation.'' Lavrov also encouraged negotiations with Syria, saying Moscow had the ''impression that Damascus is interested'' in a peace settlement with Israel.

Reuters DKS VP0623