Palestinian President Yasser Arafat met on Thursday with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Pope John Paul as he continued efforts to get international observers sent to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside Berlusconi's offices in Rome as Arafat and the premier met for an hour, according to Italian officials.
No details emerged of what was discussed, they told AFP.
But before they met, Arafat told journalists he would be urging Berlusconi to do everything possible to enable the deployment of peacekeepers in the troubled region, a move Israel opposes.
Later, Arafat went to Castelgandolfo, the pope's summer residence.
The pope again issued a firm call for an end to all forms of violence in the Middle East and urged a return to the negotiating table, deputy Vatican spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini said after Arafat's 25-minute private audience.
The spokesman said the pope had expressed his anguish at the growing numbers of victims of the violence, and had stressed the need for a complete cessation of bloodletting so that peace talks could resume, with the aid of the international community.
Already in late May, a papal envoy delivered personal messages to Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, encouraging both leaders to resume dialogue and adopt a ceasefire.
Arafat is accompanied by his International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath and the minister in charge of Middle East negotiations, Saeb Ereikat.
He began his meeting with Italian leaders Wednesday as international condemnation grew over Israel's policy of "targeted killing" -- a euphemism for assassinations -- of Palestinian activists.
The focus of the criticism of Israeli policy, which US Secretary of State Colin Powell described as "too aggressive," was a missile attack Tuesday by Israeli forces which killed five Hamas activists, a journalist and two children in the West Bank town of Nablus.
The US State Department condemned the attack as "provocative" and "excessive" and warned of "a new and dangerous escalation of violence."
China, Russia, the United Nations and France joined Arab and other leaders in the growing international chorus of disapproval over Israel's military tactics.
Up to 100,000 Palestinians took to the streets of Nablus for the funeral of the victims on Wednesday.
Anger boiled over into violent clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank town of Hebron, where a Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces.
Israel has shrugged off the international outcry over its actions. It said it would stick to its policy of "targeted liquidations," -- another euphemism for assassinations -- citing its right to self-defense and its obligation to protect its citizens.
Israel also continues to oppose an international team being sent to the region as part of the peace plan drafted by former US senator George Mitchell aimed at ending more than 10 months of fighting.
But the issue appeared to split hawks and doves within the Israeli leadership Wednesday, said Israeli media reports.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said he would agree to an "American presence" near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, but the office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued a statement afterwards ruling it out.
Since the September 2000 eruption of the latest Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation, the media has reported that Palestinians have killed at least 128 Israelis with weapons ranging from stones and knives to machineguns and car bombs. Israeli military sources have reported well over 600 injuries to Israelis of Jewish descent.
In the same time period, according to international media reports, Israeli soldiers and armed Jewish settlers have killed 13 Arab Israelis and 538 Palestinians with weapons ranging from machineguns and tanks to US-made Apache helicopter gunships and F-16s.
According to an Amnesty International report issued early this year, nearly 100 of the Palestinians killed were children. In addition, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has reported over 14,000 Palestinians wounded.
Jewish author Noam Chomsky, who according to a New York Times Book Review article is “arguably the most important intellectual alive,” has been quoted as saying: “State terrorism is an extreme form of terrorism, generally much worse than individual terrorism because it has the resources of a state behind it.” - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
