LONDON, March 31: World leaders warned Israel on Sunday not to harm Yasser Arafat as its troops closed in on the Palestinian president, and Pope John Paul said that war seemed to have been declared on peace in the Holy Land.
China, France, Germany, Japan and many Arab states, some making their appeals in direct phone calls to Israeli leaders, urged the Jewish state to show restraint amid spiralling Middle East violence and fresh suicide bombings.
Their appeals came one day after the U.N. Security Council urged Israel to withdraw its troops from Palestinian cities, and U.S. President George W. Bush expressed understanding for Israel’s need to defend itself against Palestinian suicide attacks.
The United States condemned a Palestinian suicide bombing in the Israeli port city of Haifa on Sunday that killed at least 13 people and urged Arafat to stop such attacks.
Germany and France said Arafat’s safety was paramount as Israeli troops tightened their siege of Arafat’s headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Turkey, a close military ally of Israel, also urged an end to threats to Arafat’s personal security.
The foreign ministers of China and Japan, and Morocco’s King Mohammed, telephoned either Prime Minister Ariel Sharon or Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to voice their urgent concern.
In his Easter message to the world, 81-year-old Pope John Paul called for an end to the “dramatic spiral of abuse of power and killings that bloody the Holy Land, plunged again in these very days into horror and despair.”
“It seems that war has been declared on peace. But nothing is resolved by war. It only brings greater suffering and death. Neither do retaliation and reprisals resolve anything,” he said.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said in a statement: “The military confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians is cause for great concern. It holds the danger of a destabilisation of the entire region.
“The German government urgently appeals to the Israeli side to guarantee Palestinian President Arafat will not be harmed.”
Fischer agreed by phone with French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine that “respect for the personal safety of Yasser Arafat is an absolute necessity, as is the normal functioning of the Palestinian Authority,” a French ministry spokeswoman said.
DEEP CONCERN: Turkey’s foreign ministry said it had been in contact with U.S., Palestinian and Israeli officials to express “deep concern” about the “endangerment of Mr Arafat’s safety.”
Among Arab states, Morocco’s King Mohammed phoned Sharon to urge a halt to Israeli military action. The king chairs the Al Quds Committee, a body of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
“His Majesty the king held telephone conversations with Ariel Sharon and urged him to halt all military operations in the Palestinian territories...He also insisted on the protection of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat,” a senior official said.
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates also made diplomatic appeals, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah contacting the United States to voice his concerns.
Jordan summoned the Israeli ambassador to hear its protest and UAE President Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahayan called on Washington to “act immediately” to make Israel heed UN resolution.—Reuters