BAGHDAD, Dec 24: Iraq urged Arab leaders on Monday to intervene militarily in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to “save” Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz used a lecture in Baghdad to berate the leaders for failing to react to an Israeli decision banning Arafat from attending Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem.

“It is the duty of his (Arafat’s) friends, the Arab rulers, to save him...by adopting a stand where they use their arms...to tell the world they are there,” Aziz said.

Israel said it decided to bar Arafat’s journey to Bethlehem, through roads sealed off in places by Israeli tanks and troops in the West Bank, because he was not acting “to dismantle Palestinian terror organizations”.

Palestinian officials said diplomatic efforts were underway, with mediation by the United States, European Union and United Nations to persuade Israel to lift the ban in an apparent attempt to avoid outright confrontation on the issue.

International efforts to resolve the conflict have increased recently in the hope of rallying Arab nations behind the United States. “What they call an American coalition against terrorism is fake and what is going on is an attempt to liquidate Arafat and the Palestinian uprising,” Aziz said.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who has always taken a hard line towards Israel, said at the start of the Palestinian uprising that Iraq was ready “to put an end to Zionism” if Arab rulers did not defend the Palestinians against Israel.—Reuters