Goff's meeting with Arafat rules out talks with Sharon

9.30am

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff says he intends meeting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat tomorrow, although that means he will not be able to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Mr Goff is visiting the Middle East and had planned to meet both leaders, but Mr Sharon is refusing to meet any foreign minister who sees Mr Arafat.

"Prime Minister Sharon has made a policy, not simply in relation to New Zealand but in relation to every foreign minister and leader coming to Israel, that if they see chairman Arafat he will not see them," Mr Goff said.

"That is a decision that Prime Minister Sharon is able to make for himself...but it is up to us to make decisions about who we see."

Mr Goff said on National Radio he had already met several senior Israeli politicians, including the ministers of finance and justice, and would tomorrow meet the country's president.

He is then due to meet Mr Arafat for half an hour, followed by an hour-long meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr Goff said his message to both sides was the same -- that New Zealand supported the peace process and wanted an end to bloodshed in the region.

Mr Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan Gissin, said Mr Arafat was "a major obstacle to peace" in the Middle East and the Israeli Government did not want any foreign leaders or ministers to meet him.

"By meeting Arafat they're actually undermining a very delicate process that is going on, in which the Palestinian Government and the new prime minister are trying to lead in a new direction," he said.

"This (Israeli) administration has written Arafat off."

- NZPA