"I can't give you a specific timetable, whether it's this week or next week," Boucher

UNITED NATIONS, September 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As Arab nations Monday, September 29, called for a handover of power in Baghdad to Iraqis, the United States said it would lay out steps in a new draft U.N. resolution to put Iraqis back in control of their country.

The United States State Department said Washington expects to submit a new draft U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq in the next few days and hopes the body will approve it in time for a donors conference set to open in Madrid on October 23.

“The goal is to respond in some ways to the desire of other governments to have a sense of...movement and momentum toward that political horizon, so we will be making appropriate modifications," Spokesman Richard Boucher told a daily briefing, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Boucher said different U.S. agencies were still working on the text of the resolution, seeking to meet some of the concerns about Iraq’s return to self-rule raised by other nations.

"I can't give you a specific timetable, whether it's this week or next week," Boucher was quoted by FP as saying.

"But we are looking to do that in the next few days,” he added.

Meanwhile, hopes rose that the new resolution will get support from the Security Council permanent members.

From Beijing, President Hu Jintao told French President Jacques Chirac China will support a new resolution that was "acceptable to all parties concerned," state media said Tuesday, September 30.

"The Chinese government maintains that the security and stability of Iraq should be resumed as early as possible and the administration of Iraq by the Iraqi people should be materialized," Hu said in remarks made during a telephone conversation with Chirac Monday evening, the Xinhua news agency said.

While Chirac said few days ago that Paris will not veto the U.S.-backed Security Council resolution on the future of Iraq. But he warned it would abstain in a vote on the draft resolution if it failed to include a firm deadline and timetable for a transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis.

In Brussels, the European Union called for a handover to Iraqi sovereignty within a "realistic schedule," but divisions between Britain and France remained in plain view.

Britain and the rest of its EU partners said they "acknowledged the necessity to reach agreement on a realistic schedule for handing over political responsibility to the Iraqi people."

The United States had rejected calls by France and Germany for a speeded up transfer of power in Baghdad as unrealistic.

But U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said last week he would like to see an Iraqi constitution in six months, a step he said would set the stage for later elections.

The United States is seeking approval for the resolution which would authorize the deployment of a multinational force in Iraq, thus lightening Washington's financial and military burden in the unstable country.

The resolution also affords international acceptance of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and asks the Iraqis to suggest a clear timetable for the creation of democratic institutions.

 ‘Clear Timetable’

"The way out lies in an international commitment to the unity and sovereignty of the territories of Iraq,” Shara

In the meanwhile, Arab nations called for a speedy handover of power in Baghdad to Iraqis and said it was the most likely way to end the spiral of bloodshed and unrest against the U.S. occupation.

"Finding the way out of this predicament does not lie in focusing on addressing the lack of security, therefore increasing the number of troops," Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara told the U.N. General Assembly.

"The way out lies in an international commitment to the unity and sovereignty of the territories of Iraq, to setting a clear timetable for the withdrawal of the occupying forces from Iraq as soon as possible," he said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said that Cairo had "grave concern" over the Iraq situation.

"We reaffirm anew the need for respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Iraq," Maher said, calling for the "earliest possible withdrawal of the occupying forces."

Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi Arabian minister of foreign affairs, said it was of "the utmost necessity to set a clear timetable that would assure the Iraqis that they are close to restoring their sovereignty and independence."

Israeli Nuclear Power

Pointing to another vital issue, with the world pressing Iran and North Korea to give up nuclear programs, Arab states Monday criticized the West for allowing Israel to remain outside global nonproliferation regimes, Reuters reported.

Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons capability but has not signed on to major agreements, including the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which is aimed at curbing the spread of nuclear arms.

"What surprises us is that at a time when the International Atomic Energy Agency is intensifying its efforts and monitoring (NPT) members countries ... we see that it continues to ignore the rejection of Israel in not joining the treaty," Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, Reuters added.

"This constitutes a serious threat to the security and stability of the whole region," he said.

"It is unacceptable that Israel's possession of such weapons should remain a reality that some prefer to ignore or prevent the international community ... from facing it squarely and frankly," said Maher.

Syria, accused by the United States of developing chemical and biological arms, took aim at both Washington and Israel.

Al-Shara noted that "a lot has been said lately about the dangers of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by countries that already have different types of such weapons."

"Some have even waged war under the pretext of eliminating these weapons," he said in an apparent reference to the United States and its war to oust Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

The Arab ministers repeated their support for making the Middle East region free from all weapons of mass destruction.

Israel maintains an ambiguity about its weapons programs but Joe Circincione of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has written that Israel is believed to have between 100-200 nuclear weapons, a stockpile of chemical weapons and an active biological arms program, Reuters reported.