TITLE: Iraq Slams U.N. For Delaying Decision to Aid Palestine

AUTHOR:

PUB: XINHUA

DATE: January 2, 2001

An official Iraqi daily on Tuesday slammed the United Nations Security Council for failing to reach an agreement on approval of Iraqi aid of 1 billion euro (some 860 million U.S. dollars) to Palestine. In an editorial, the official Al-Iraq stressed that if the U.N. Security Council is not governed by "the U.S. and its hegemony," it should take practical steps to ratify the decision made by the Iraqi government. The editorial demanded the U.N. Security Council to approve the humanitarian decision quickly, as the Palestinians are subjected to the "besiege" of Israel and Israel has obstructed the arrival of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories. On December 9 last year, Iraq decided to allocate 1 billion euro from its oil export proceeds over a one-year period to support the the Palestinians' intifada (uprising) against Israel. Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammad Said Al-Sahaf informed the U.N. Security Council of the Iraqi decision four days later and urged a quick and favorable response from the world's leading body. Under the Iraqi plan, Iraq will grant 300 million euro (about 258 million dollars) to the families of the Palestinians killed in the conflicts with Israeli soldiers since September 28, and 700 million euro (some 602 million dollars) to the Palestinian authority to buy food and medicine for the Palestinian people. The over-three-month-old clashes between the Palestinians and Israeli soldiers have killed over 300 people, mostly Palestinians, and injured thousands. END top