Powell says Arafat talks 'useful'

RAMALLAH - United States Secretary of State Colin Powell pushed on with his peace drive last night, meeting Yasser Arafat at the Palestinian leader's Israeli-besieged compound.

Powell, emerging late last night after three hours of talks, described the meeting as "useful and constructive".

Arafat did not come out of his office to speak to reporters.

"We just completed a useful and constructive exchange ... and we exchanged a variety of ideas and discussed steps on how we can move forward," Powell said.

He had entered the meeting planning to press Arafat for a ceasefire in 18 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence after failing to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in talks on Saturday to end a 16-day-old military offensive in the West Bank.

Neither man had spoken to reporters before their talks at the bullet-pocked compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah where Arafat has been confined by Israeli tanks.

Arafat, 72, had appeared in good physical health, although he had been under pressure that was "unreal for an old man like him", said Zeid Abu Shawish, a Palestinian doctor in the compound.

Powell had entered the compound surrounded by helmeted US security staff armed with submachine guns. He travelled the 20km from Jerusalem in a motorcade of six armoured vans.

Powell had envisaged meeting the Palestinian President early yesterday, but he put the talks on hold after a suicide bomber killed six people in Jerusalem on Saturday.

He went ahead with the meeting after Arafat met US demands to condemn the attack and despite opposition from Sharon who said such talks would be a "tragic mistake".

The Palestinian statement said Arafat and his aides "firmly condemn operations targeting Israeli civilians, particularly the recent one in Jerusalem".

It added that: "We firmly condemn the crimes and massacres committed by the Israeli occupation forces against civilians and Palestinian refugees at Nablus, the Jenin camp, the church in Bethlehem and other Palestinian zones in recent weeks."

But expectations for a breakthrough were low after a series of failed US and international missions, which have been met by the bloody spiral of violence.

As Israeli forces pressed on with their sweeping offensive, the Army said a soldier shot dead a Palestinian man yesterday at a hostel next to Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, where troops have been locked in a standoff with armed men for 12 days.

At the Jenin refugee camp to the north, journalists saw the devastation left after days of the most ferocious fighting in the Israeli sweep.

Earlier in the day, Powell urged restraint by Israeli forces, which moved into half a dozen more West Bank towns in defiance of US pressure to end the offensive.

He also expressed concern about the "serious humanitarian situation" in areas seized by the Israeli Army, which has said its intent is to root out militants behind attacks on Israelis.

Palestinians have accused Israel of carrying out a "massacre" in Jenin in which hundreds were killed. Israel has dismissed the charge, saying it tried to avoid civilian deaths.

The Army has said it killed 200 Palestinians during the offensive, about half of them in the Jenin camp.

Powell has said the US is seeking actions and not just words from the Palestinian leader in its bid to staunch more than 18 months of Middle East bloodshed in which at least 1265 Palestinians and 452 Israelis have been killed.

Arafat has been trapped in his headquarters in Ramallah surrounded by Israeli tanks since March 29, when the Israeli Army launched a sweeping offensive in the West Bank after a suicide bombing killed 28 people in an Israeli hotel.

Sharon has ignored a flurry of calls from Washington, Israel's chief ally, to withdraw from cities and towns occupied during the offensive.

He made no commitment to Powell beyond speeding up military operations.

Israeli leaders are normally careful to avoid alienating the US, which provides the Jewish state with $US3 billion ($6.7 billion) in annual aid.

Last night Israel's military announced it would end the sweeping ban on entering occupied Palestinian areas in the West Bank.

But restrictions will stay in Arafat's compound, Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity and Jenin.

Meanwhile, Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the Army not to bury the bodies of Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp. The order follows claims that Israeli troops were using bulldozers to dig mass graves.

- AGENCIES

Feature: Middle East

Map

History of conflict

UN: Information on the Question of Palestine

Israel's Permanent Mission to the UN

Palestine's Permanent Observer Mission to the UN

Middle East Daily

Arabic News

Arabic Media Internet Network

Jerusalem Post

US Department of State - Middle East Peace Process