UNITED NATIONS, April 9 (IslamOnline & news Agencies) - The U.N. Security Council is to resume debate Tuesday, April 9, on an Arab request for another resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank, as Israeli tanks pulled out of two towns.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, rebuffed the request late Monday, saying it was "time for leadership on the ground and in the region. We do not need any more resolutions, we need full implementation of the existing ones."

He was speaking Monday, April 8, in a public debate, the council's fifth meeting since March 30, when it adopted Resolution 1402, calling for an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces.

Negroponte noted that a "high-level diplomatic effort" was underway in the face of both sides' failure to comply with the new resolution, with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in the region to seek a peace deal.

A total of 43 ambassadors were scheduled to speak in the U.N. debate, which adjourned late Monday so council members could consider a draft resolution submitted by Syria, said this month's council president, Sergei Lavrov of Russia.

The draft resolution, made available to Agence France-Presse (AFP), deplored the failure to implement 1402 and 1403, the follow-up resolution adopted Thursday.

If adopted, it would again demand the immediate implementation of 1402 and call on Israel to respect the 1949 Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in time of war.

"Israel should not be treated as a country that is above the law," the Palestinian observer to the U.N., Nasser Al-Kidwa, told the council.

He said the Israeli chief of staff, General Shaul Mofaz, was "personally responsible for many crimes of war committed by his forces," including the premeditated killing of civilians, and called for him to be brought to justice.

"We call upon the council to consider the mechanism" to bring Israeli occupation army officers to trial, Al-Kidwa said.

"We and future generations will never forget what has befallen us at the hands of the Israelis. There is no doubt that a serious stand by the international community to these crimes will help prevent their recurrence."

The Israeli ambassador, Yehuda Lancry, said Israel had not rejected resolution 1402, but was only insisting that the Palestinians implement their side of it too. "To our dismay, all the indicators suggest that the Palestinian side has no intention of even declaring a ceasefire, much less implementing a meaningful one," he added.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, Monday voiced concern over the unfolding tragedy in the Middle East and appealed to Israel's leadership to withdraw from Palestinian areas.

"The whole world is demanding that Israel withdraws - I don't think the whole world, including the friends of the Israeli people and Government, can be wrong," Annan told reporters in Madrid, where Monday he opened the U.N. Second World Assembly on Ageing, the United Nations web site reported.

"So I appeal to Prime Minister Sharon to heed the call, and move ahead with the implementation of the resolution," he stressed, referring to Security Council resolution 1402. "Of course the resolution also makes demands on the Palestinian leadership and I urge them also to honor that," he added.

"I think what is happening in the region, both Israel and Palestine, is a very painful thing for all of us to see the human tragedy and I also regret to say that the longer this goes on, the more it erodes the moral and political position of Israel in the world and I hope that Prime Minister Sharon would bear that in mind as well," U.N. Secretary-General said.

Describing the tragic humanitarian situation, Annan said, "it is really very, very serious when you consider that a large number of people are without water, they are short of food and medication, and the humanitarian workers, from Red Cross to Red Crescent to UNWRA [U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East], do not have a freedom of movement."

The Secretary-General voiced full backing for the forthcoming visit to the Middle East by United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. "We are solidly with him and I hope he will have a successful mission," said the Secretary-General, warning, "It's not going to be easy."

"He doesn't have a magic wand, so we should not expect miracles," Annan stressed. "It's a tough mission but we will be with him all the way."