Palestinian refugees rallied Friday to demand international protection for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip subjected to an Israeli "genocide."
"We demand an international protection for the Palestinian people who are being subjected to a mass genocide," said a memorandum handed by the refugees to an official of the United Nations Interim Forces in southern Lebanon.
The memorandum, addressed to UN chief Kofi Annan, also demanded that future peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians include China, Russia and the European Union as direct sponsors, in addition to the United States.
About 300 refugees had gathered in front of the UNIFIL headquarters in this southern port city, holding Palestinian flags and banners reading: "Jerusalem, we are coming."
Many wore traditional checkered headscarfs while raising stones in their hands to symbolize the Intifada, or uprising, by stone-throwing Palestinian youths against Israeli army troops.
Some 367,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon, half of them in camps scattered across the country -- TYRE (AFP)
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