The Non-Aligned Movement committee on Palestine opened a meeting in South Africa today, calling for an international move to end bloodshed in the West Bank and Gaza.
South African Foreign Minister Ms Nkosazana Zuma said: "This is a very important meeting and we have a big responsibility to discuss and come up with some ideas about how we could endeavour to get the [peace] process to move forward."
The two-day talks were to be joined later today by Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat and South African President Mr Thabo Mbeki, the current chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Yesterday, Mr Arafat pledged to pursue peace in the Middle East.
"We will work together to achieve the real peace in the land of peace to stop the violence . . . for the sake of our children and their children," he said after a meeting with former South African president Mr Nelson Mandela.
Mr Mandela said he was concerned about violence in the region and the deaths of so many people but said he was confident of Mr Mbeki's handling of the Non-Aligned Movement's peace efforts.
The Non-Aligned Movement's Committee on Palestine includes Algeria, Bangladesh, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Senegal, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Palestinian Authority.
Also invited to the Pretoria meeting are the foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt and developing nations with seats on the UN Security Council, including Colombia, Jamaica, Mali, Mauritius, Singapore and Tunisia.