US urged to administer occupied lands

A Palestinian leader said in an interview published Wednesday he had asked the United States to administer the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip as a step toward establishing a Palestinian state. Hikmat Al- Misri, chairman of the board of governors of the Najah National University in Nablus on the West Bank, told the Kuwaiti newspapers Al-Qabas he put the request to the US ambassador to the United Nations, Donald McHenry, during recent talks.

"We said an American administration should take the place of the Israeli occupation in Palestine for an interim period as an indication of the sincerity of our demand for a state," Dr. Misri said.