The United Nations General Assembly will hold on Friday its 10th emergency special session on the conflict in the Middle East at the request of Arab countries, according to Thursday's UN Journal.

The meeting, due to open at 3 pm local time (1900GMT), was requested by Sudan, chairman for the Arab Group for September, and Malaysia, head of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The subject of the session is "illegal Israel actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory," Malaysian Ambassador to the UN Rastam Mohd Isa said in a letter to Julian Hunte, president of the General Assembly.

In his letter to Hunte, Sudanese Ambassador Ahmed Erwa said he made the request "in the light of the inability of the Security Council to fulfill its responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security due to the exercise by one of its permanent members of the veto."

He was referring to the US veto in Tuesday's Security Council vote on a Sudan-Syrian resolution, which calls on Israel not to deport or harm Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

UN officials said Sudan is expected to present a similar resolution to the General Assembly.

Israel's security cabinet has decided in principle to expel Arafat from West Bank and one senior cabinet member even threatened to kill him. The threats have drawn worldwide sharp criticism.

(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2003)