GAZA CITY, Jan 20: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has sent an urgent message to US President George W. Bush asking him to send his special envoy Anthony Zinni back to the region to try to defuse tensions, his top aide told AFP.

Arafat, trapped in Ramallah by Israel since December 3, sent the message on Saturday, a day after Israeli tanks moved to positions in the streets outside his West Bank headquarters.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was quoted in the daily Maariv Sunday as saying “it is preferable that Arafat stays locked in Ramallah instead of being expelled from the (Palestinian) territories as he could cause more harm outside.”

“He opens the windows of his Ramallah offices, he sees our tanks and knows he has nowhere to go. He is dying to travel and fly off, it’s making him sick since he knows he is locked up in our jail,” Sharon said, quoted by the daily.

Israel has said Arafat will remain confined to Ramallah until he arrests all the people involved in the October slaying of an Israeli cabinet minister.

Zinni has made two visits to the region to try to push for a ceasefire but his latest trip, scheduled for Jan 18, was postponed indefinitely amid renewed violence.—AFP