Egyptian FM Urges Powell to Meet Arafat

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, April 13, 2002

Egyptian FM Urges Powell to Meet Arafat

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher on Friday urged U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as scheduled despite a deadlysuicide attack in Jerusalem.

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Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher on Friday urged U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as scheduled despite a deadlysuicide attack in Jerusalem.

During his phone talks with Powell, Maher highlighted "the need for the meeting scheduled for Saturday to come up with the aspired outcome of an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian lands and a halt to its siege on Arafat," Egypt's official MENA news agency said.

The two men tackled the outcome of Powell's meeting with IsraeliPrime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Maher, who returned home earlier in the day after meeting with the besieged Palestinian leader in the West Bank city of Ramallah, also briefed Powell on his meeting with Arafat.

Powell, who is on a visit to Israel, has been reviewing whether to go ahead with talks with Arafat after a Palestinian suicide bombing attack in Jerusalem.

Hours after the suicide bombing, U.S. State Department spokesmanRichard Boucher said that Powell was deliberating over his plans for Saturday, when he was due to meet Arafat.

Shortly After the Powell-Sharon meeting in Jerusalem, a Palestinian woman blew herself up at a bus station near the crowdedMahne-Yehuda open market, killing six and wounding some 70.

Powell arrived in Israel Thursday night as part of his Mideast tour, which has taken him to Morocco, Egypt and Jordan.

Arab states have pressed for the Powell-Arafat meeting, warning that if Powell fails to meet with Arafat, his Mideast tour would end empty-handed.

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