Arafat lobbies Italy for observers

Arafat met Prime Minister Berlusconi and the Pope

By David Willey in Rome

The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has met Pope John Paul as he tries to drum up support for the sending of international observers into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to monitor escalating violence.

Pope John Paul believes that both Israelis and Palestinians should have their own homelands

Mr Arafat knows that he has a long-time friend in the person of Pope John Paul.

The Pope believes that there can be no peaceful solution in the Middle East until the Palestinians get full rights to their homeland.

He also defends the right of Israel to exist within secure borders.

Internationalisation

The Pope favours the internationalisation of the city of Jerusalem -- an idea that's a non-starter as far as the Israelis are concerned.

The meeting, at the Pope's summer residence at Castel Gandolfo near Rome, was the tenth between the two men during Pope John Paul's long reign.

Their last meeting was in Bethlehem in March last year during the Pope's week long visit to Israel.

There is an absolute need to put an end to all types of violence, be they attacks or reprisals, and to get the much hoped for negotiations on the table

Pope John Paul

Mr Arafat conveyed to the Pope his fears that the latest killings of Palestinians in Nablus may mark the beginning of new attempts by Israel to bring down the Palestinian Authority with a programme of targeted assassinations.

In an interview with a leading Italian newspaper, La Stampa, Mr Arafat claimed that the Israeli cabinet had this week approved a plan called "Oranin", which means inferno in Hebrew, to kill high-level Palestinians.

Israel has denied this.

Earlier Mr Arafat met the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and leading Italian politicians to seek Italy's help in trying to convince the Israelis of the need for international monitors in order to check the escalating violence.

As Mr Arafat was holding talks with Mr Berlusconi, about 50 people staged a demonstration outside the Prime Minister's office, demanding that the Palestinian Authority stop executions of alleged Israeli informers.