UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council has agreed to end months of silence and discuss Israeli settlement activities on land the Palestinians want for a future state, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Thursday. The meeting will take place on Friday, the spokeswoman said, the same day the so-called Middle East Quartet -- Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations -- will convene on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly to discuss the peace process. The meeting was requested by Arab foreign ministers, who met in New York to discuss the settlements issue on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if the council planned to adopt a joint statement or resolution. The 15-nation Security Council has been unable to reach a consensus on anything related to the Middle East for months. The main reason for the deadlock, Western diplomats say, has been U.S. frustration with council debates on the Middle East. The U.S. delegation has complained that council sessions on Israel and the Palestinians have not been constructive, mostly due to the presence on the council of Libya, a long-time foe of the Jewish state. Arab diplomats have accused Washington of blocking council discussion of settlements, a problem they say is undermining the peace process. According to a report by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, Israeli authorities and settlers have seized land in the West Bank for security zones around Jewish settlements beyond an Israeli-built barrier. The barrier is deemed illegal by the World Court because it is being built in part on occupied territory, but Israel says it is necessary to keep Palestinian suicide bombers out. The Palestinians condemned the project as a land grab and say settlement expansion could deny them a viable and contiguous state alongside Israel. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Alan Elsner)
Foreign tourists ride camels near Dakhla oasis in Egypt's Western Desert, some 900 km southwest from Cairo, September 24, 2008. Kidnappers who snatched European tourists in Egypt's desert last week exploited ...
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