21.   China and other critics have said no U.N. resolution explicitly authorizes military force to protect Iraqi minorities.

22.   Do they stay, trusting the NATO-led peace force to protect them from their former enemies, or leave while they still can?

23.   Erekat said the Palestinian representatives were in touch with the United Nations Security Council to appeal for international forces to protect the Palestinians.

24.   In a statement, the leaders said the U.N. force should also protect temporary sanctuaries inside Zaire for the refugees.

25.   In December, a Palestinian call for a U.N. observer force to protect its civilians failed to get the minimum nine votes required for adoption by the council.

26.   In Jakarta, military commander Gen. Wiranto pledged that the security forces will protect U.N. personnel.

27.   Israeli forces still protect the blocs of Jewish settlements in the area.

28.   It called on the United Nations to investigate the causes of the violence and consider an international force to protect Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.

29.   Last Friday, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat personally appealed to the Security Council to authorize a force to protect Palestinians amid the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades.

30.   Rakhmonov dismissed the threat, saying that the government forces were protecting the dam.