DOHA, July 1: A high-ranking Palestinian official called on Sunday for a boycott of US Secretary State Colin Powell after the US diplomat said Washington has no intention of talking with embattled Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

“I call on all Palestinian officials to boycott Colin Powell. I call on all Palestinians not to meet Powell,” said Palestinian cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdul Rahman, in an interview with Qatar-based Arab satellite news channel al-Jazeera.

“I am against any Palestinians meeting with any American or Israeli officials as long as the Palestinian people are under siege, as long as the Palestinian people are under occupation, as long as president Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian leadership are under siege,” Abdul Rahman said.

Speaking with Fox television earlier in the day, Powell said the United States would work hard to help Palestinians establish their own state, but they must first overhaul their leadership.

The president “is going to work hard for a state for the Palestinian people so that they can live side by side in peace with the Jewish state, Israel,” Powell said.

“But it begins with new leadership that is fighting against terror, not tolerating terror or even encouraging terror.”

Powell’s words echoed those uttered by Bush in a June 24 speech outlining his vision for Middle East peace.

In his speech, Bush called for Arafat — who has been accused of not doing enough to stop anti-Israeli violence — to be replaced as a condition for US support for a Palestinian state.—AFP