Mitterrand Calls for a Palestinian State : Mideast: French president proposes that world leaders meet in the Security Council to discuss the future of the region.

French President Francois Mitterrand on Sunday made what diplomats described as his clearest call yet for a Palestinian state.

In his first televised address since the Gulf War cease-fire, he also proposed that world leaders meet in the U.N. Security Council to discuss the future of the Middle East.

“Israel must really enjoy safe and recognized borders and the means of ensuring its security, and Palestinians, as a people, must have their own identity, homeland and state,” Mitterrand said.

Diplomats said it appeared to be the first time Mitterrand has called so clearly for a Palestinian state. They said he had previously proposed a homeland or a state-like structure for Palestinians.

Mitterrand, who has advocated an international conference to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict, said the United Nations has a duty to restore peace in the Middle East after having authorized war to push Iraq out of Kuwait.

“Why not get the Security Council together at the level of the heads of state and government for the first time?” he asked.

He listed the sovereignty of Lebanon, arms control, environmental protection and rights of minorities, including Kurds, as other problems needing to be discussed.

In other diplomatic developments:

* Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Arabs to make a fresh start to build regional cooperation;

* World statesmen meeting in London said a multinational peacekeeping force should be stationed between Iraq and Kuwait and called for an international conference on the region’s problems;

* British Prime Minister John Major welcomed Iraq’s acceptance of allied terms for a cease-fire;

* The World Bank’s president said the organization expects to help Kuwait and Iraq rebuild.

Egypt’s Mubarak, in an address to Parliament, said the end of the Gulf War had brought “a new dawn” in the Middle East and called on Arabs to join a new world order based on peace, democracy and economic competition.

Mubarak said in a televised, hourlong speech that Egyptians have no quarrel with the Iraqi people and will help rebuild their country.

But he accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of ordering his army to commit suicide “while he was hiding in his bunker” and said the world would never forgive him for his crime.

The Egyptian leader said Arabs must attempt to settle border disputes and work out their own plans for Arab security and economic development, two points he said are indivisible.

Mubarak said a solution to the Palestinian issue has become crucial but criticized the internal politics of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

In London, a statement issued by world statesmen calling for a Mideast conference said: “All the countries of the Middle East should be invited to attend and encouraged to play a role in the discussions, which would involve parallel talks . . . on the Palestinian question, regional security in the Middle East, cooperation on oil matters and . . . human rights.”

The peacekeeping force should be made up of either U.N. troops or forces from neighboring Arab nations, the statement said. It added that a regional fund should be set up to help rebuild countries affected by the Gulf War.

Former Saudi Oil Minister Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani led the meeting, sponsored by his Center for Global Energy Studies. Other participants were former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing; Italian Foreign Minister Gianni de Michelis; former Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit; David Howell, chairman of Britain’s parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee; former French Defense Minister Andre Giraud, and James R. Schlesinger, former U.S. defense and energy secretary.

Meanwhile, on the eve of a trip to Moscow to talk with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev about the Gulf, Britain’s Major said he greeted “with great satisfaction” the agreement reached in Iraq on the terms of the cease-fire.

Sources at No. 10 Downing Street indicated that Major will express to Gorbachev the allied coalition’s appreciation for last-minute Soviet efforts to achieve a settlement with Iraq before the ground war began Feb. 23.