TEL AVIV, Dec 5: Israeli foreign ministry officials have recommended the two-year siege on Yasser Arafat be lifted as part of confidence-building gestures to Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, the Maariv daily said on Friday.

Department officials have submitted a report to Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom warning that if the Palestinian leader were to die while confined to his West Bank headquarters, Israel would be blamed by the Palestinians.

“The logic behind the recommendation is that in the Palestinian and Arab point of view, if Arafat should die while still imprisoned in the Muqataa (Mr Arafat’s headquarters), Israel will bear the main responsibility for his death,” the report said.

“Therefore it is preferable that Israel allow Arafat to move freely in the West Bank and Gaza.”

The paper said ministry officials argue that a decision to allow Yasser Arafat to leave his compound in the town of Ramallah should form part of a series of gestures to Mr Qorei’s government, which was installed last month.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has branded Mr Arafat an “absolute obstacle to peace” and his government approved in principle in September to “remove” the veteran Palestinian leader from the Muqataa.—AFP