Arafat urges Western leaders to relaunch peace process

An unidentified relative of 35-year-old Palestinian Said Abu Safra mourns during his funeral in Beit Lahia Friday. Abu Safra was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday as he tried to prevent a mentally-deranged person from approaching a Jewish settlement, Palestinian medical sources said. PHOTO: AFP

In the written messages, sent to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac among others, Arafat appeals for Western leaders "to act to relaunch the peace process" that has been stalled for three years, his adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP late on Friday.

Arafat also sent messages to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, as well as the leaders of Spain, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, and South Africa.

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In the messages Arafat also told the leaders about "developments in the Palestinian territories, continuing Israeli aggression and the refusal of the Israeli government to implement the roadmap" for peace backed by the international community.

The appeals follow continued pressure by the United States to shun Arafat to encourage the rise of a new Palestinian leader.

They come ahead of the planned signing Monday in Geneva of an alternative Middle East peace plan drafted by opposition Israeli politicians and prominent Palestinians.

The "Geneva Initiative", which includes detailed proposals to resolve some of the thorniest issues, has been met with outright opposition from the Israeli government and lukewarm support from the Palestinian leadership.

Reuters adds: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reported on Friday that Israel has failed to comply with a General Assembly demand that it halt construction of a barrier cutting deep into Palestinian West Bank lands.

The official finding lays the groundwork for the Palestinians to return to the 191-nation assembly next week to seek further action against Israel.

"I have concluded that Israel is not in compliance with the assembly's demand that it 'stop and reverse the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,"' said the report, requested by the assembly in an Oct. 21 resolution.

Annan acknowledged Israel's "right and duty to protect its people against terrorist attacks."

But doing so by building what Israel calls a "security fence" that veers as much as 13 miles from its 1967 border with the West Bank would violate international law and increase Palestinian suffering, he said.

It also "could damage the longer-term prospects for peace by making the creation of an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian state more difficult," his report concluded.

The General Assembly voted 144-4 with 12 abstentions last month to adopt a resolution demanding that Israel halt construction of the barrier. Only the United States, Israel, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia voted "no."

Palestinian envoy Nasser al-Kidwa said he would seek an emergency General Assembly meeting next week to take up a second resolution asking the International Court of Justice to issue an advisory opinion on whether the barrier was illegal.

The court, a branch of the United Nations based in the Netherlands, judges disputes between countries.

Annan's report "vindicated everything we have said on this matter," al-Kidwa told Reuters.

But Israeli Deputy Ambassador Arye Mekel said his government "strongly disputes the report's findings."