Nov. 13, 2002

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS COLLEGE PARK, Maryland

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan pledged on Wednesday that the United Nations would never permit the destruction of Israel.

"It was to prevent such things from happening that the United Nations was founded," Annan said in a speech at the University of Maryland that commemorated the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's peace overtures to Israel 25 years ago next week.

Terror attacks have caused Israelis to lose faith in the Palestinians' desire for peace, Annan said. As a result, Israelis support measures against the Palestinians that Annan said have pushed more than one million people below the poverty line. For their part "the Palestinians are just as firmly attached to their land as Israelis are to theirs," he said.

"They too, have a right to their own state, supported by the United Nations and by public opinion worldwide," Annan said.

The only solution, he said, is for Israel to relinquish the land the Arabs lost in the 1967 Mideast War and to live side by side with a Palestinian state.

The two sides would negotiate the precise location of the borders, Annan said. Annan said both sides should follow the example of Sadat, who agreed to peace with Israel in exchange for recovering the Sinai, which Egypt lost in 1967.

"Somehow, we have to restore hope to both peoples by patiently rebuilding their trust in each other," Annan said.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2002