UNITED NATIONS — Envoys from the U.S. and several nations walked out of a U.N. Security Council meeting Wednesday after Libya compared the situation in the Gaza Strip to Nazi concentration camps, council diplomats said.
The walkout was a rare protest by diplomats on the U.N.’s most powerful body against a member. Libya is the only Arab nation on the council.
Assistant Secretary-General Angela Kane had reported on the escalation in violence and growing humanitarian plight in Gaza as well as rocket attacks against Israel.
According to several diplomats, Libya’s deputy U.N. Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi ended a long speech about the plight of the Palestinians by comparing the situation in Gaza to the German concentration camps in World War II, prompting the walkout.
Abbas appeals to Bush
Earlier, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appealed to the Bush administration for more support in peace talks with Israel that have bogged down for five months after both sides pledged to reach a deal by January.
In a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ahead of talks with President Bush today, Abbas said that time was running out if the target laid out at the Annapolis Conference in November was to be met and that more pressure must be exerted on Israel to stop the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Bush hopes to achieve a peace deal before he leaves office in January. Bush also met Wednesday with Jordan’s King Abdullah II to discuss the process.
Possible Israeli offer?
Also on Wednesday, a Lebanese Cabinet minister, Buthaina Shaaban, said that Israel has passed a message to Syria saying it is prepared to return the Golan Heights in exchange for a peace treaty.
Israeli officials declined to comment on the report, but the message could be a sign of progress in back-channel contacts that the two nations have reported in recent days.
Shaaban told reporters the message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was relayed to Syrian President Bashar Assad by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyiop Erdogan.
