Arafat Urges 'Durable Political Solution' in Talks With Powell: Shaath

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 15, 2002

Arafat Urges 'Durable Political Solution' in Talks With Powell: Shaath

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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Sunday made a request on realizing "a durable political peaceful solution" in his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, a senior Palestinian official said.

"The Palestinian side does not accept temporary solutions," Palestinian Minister of International Cooperation Nabil Shaath told reporters here after his meeting with Arab League chief Amr Moussa on the Arafat-Powell meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah earlier in the day.

This is one of the four requests raised by the Palestinian side during Arafat's meeting with Powell.

The Palestinian side demanded an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian lands in line with U.N. resolutions, Shaath said, adding that Arafat reminded Powell of the U.S. commitment in this respect.

"Israel's crimes in the West Bank towns of Jenin and Nablus, among other Palestinian towns, should be stopped," Shaath said.

The Palestinian side also asked for the rapid deployment of international peacekeeping forces in the region, in addition to the offering of humanitarian and financial aid to the Palestinian people, especially those in the north of the West Bank, Shaath said.

Arafat and Powell spent more than three hours on exchanging views on the worsening situation in the occupied Palestinian lands in Arafat's besieged compound in Ramallah.

Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Arafat, Powell said that the meeting was "useful and constructive."

A senior Palestinian official said on Sunday that Arafat and Powell will meet again on Tuesday.

Powell and Arafat are scheduled to meet again in Ramallah on Tuesday after both Palestinian and Israeli teams present their vision on political, security and economical issues, said Mohamed Dahlan, chief of Palestinian Preventive Security for the Gaza Strip.

The situation in the Palestinian lands has swiftly worsened since Israeli tanks rolled into Ramallah and shelled Arafat's compound there on March 29.

Arafat has been besieged by the Israeli army in his office building in Ramallah since then.

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