UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mrs Mary Robinson is planning to visit the Mideast on a fact-finding mission pending permission from Israel.
Mrs Robinson spent the weekend assembling a team that will accompany her on the trip. It will include Spain's former prime minister, Mr Felipe Gonzalez, and the former secretary general of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, she said.
The UN rights mission, which follows a UN resolution overwhelmingly adopted on Friday, would last between three and five days and could leave as early as Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning, a spokeswoman said.
"As soon as the mission has the Israeli green light, since we cannot go without that, we will leave immediately; that means either Tuesday evening or on Wednesday morning," the spokeswoman told reporters.
Mrs Robinson has said she would only lead the mission if it had the full co-operation from Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The mission aims to look at the human rights situation in the troubled area.
AFP