Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Sunday he wanted to arrange for deployment of an international peacekeeping force in the West Bank and Gaza to protect Palestinians from the Israeli army.
"I am asking for international forces ... to protect us, to stop attacks against our people," Arafat said in an interview with CBS "60 Minutes" television program.
The Palestinian leader is scheduled to meet with US President Bill Clinton at the White House Thursday to discuss ways to stop violence in the Palestinian territories that has claimed nearly 180 lives, most of them Palestinian.
"I'm begging somebody to help me stop this tragedy," Arafat continued. "I'm asking the American people, I'm asking the whole international community to save the peace process."
Last Wednesday, the Palestinian observer at the United Nations suggested deployment of 2,000 UN military observers to protect Palestinian civilians from Israeli forces.
But Israeli acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami rejected the idea, saying "the only thing we need to do now is simply to cease violence, to observe the Sharm el-Sheikh memorandum and get back to the business of peace-making."
Arafat did not say directly whether he intended to take his proposal directly to the White House but offered words of praise to Clinton.
"I respect him from my heart because he has worked hard and he is still working for the peace process," Arafat said of the US president.
At the same time, he blamed US military aid to Israel for the deaths of Palestinians at the hands of Israeli troops.
"They are killing us with your weapons, the American weapons," he said. "These helicopters are American helicopters, the tanks are American tanks, their artillery is American artillery."
Palestinians launched their Intifada, or uprising, on September 28, when Israeli rightwing leader Ariel Sharon visited Jerusalem's hotly disputed al-Aqsa mosque holy site, despite warnings of a backlash.
Arafat said he knew three days in advance that Sharon was planning to visit the site, known to the Jews as Temple Mount.
The Palestinian leader said he had warned Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, among other leaders, about the likely consequences of the visit but they had failed to act.
"I told Bill Clinton, I told the European Union, I told the Vatican, I told the Arabs, I told Barak himself," said Arafat – WASHINGTON (AFP)
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