Ireland will lend its full support to demands to establish a UN-led inquiry into allegations of a massacre at the West Bank town of Jenin, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen said today.
Mr Cowen said Ireland's permanent representative to the UN would make a statement when the Security Council debates the escalating situation in the Middle East.
He said Ireland would be pressing for UN Resolution 1402 to be implemented, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian areas, an end to attacks on civilians and an early start to political dialogue.
Access for medical and humanitarian relief into the West Bank and Gaza Strip will also be demanded by Ireland at the meeting.
Mr Cowen said Ireland would repeat its demand that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Robinson, be allowed to fulfil her mandate and visit the region.
Israel invaded the Jenin refugee camp on April 3rd claiming it was a centre for Palestinian terrorists. The Israeli military denies there was a massacre there.
Mr Cowen's comments follow a request for a multinational peacekeeping force by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan because the Israelis and Palestinians are now so far apart.
Yesterday, the UN's Middle East envoy Mr Terje Roed-Larsen, who toured the Jenin refugee camp, said it was "morally repugnant" that Israel had not allowed emergency workers in for 11 days to provide humanitarian relief.
Palestinians have claimed that hundreds of bodies are buried beneath the rubble although medical sources say only 65 have been recovered.
Additional reporting AFP
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