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Arafat Appeals For International Observers
AMMAN, June 18 (News Agencies) - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat exhorted the international community on Monday to swiftly send observers in order to help secure the shaky ceasefire with Israel, saying the situation is extremely dangerous, news agencies said.
Arafat, addressing an Arab ministerial committee meeting convened in Amman to review political and financial support for the Palestinians, urged Arab countries to draw up a comprehensive financial aid scheme to help offset the human and material cost of the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation.
As he spoke, the six-day-old U.S.- brokered ceasefire was further tested by violence on the West Bank as a Jewish settler was killed and another boy was injured.
"The situation now is dangerous, very dangerous and international efforts must be deployed to end the crisis," Arafat told the meeting.
"It is now necessary to send, without delay, international observers to consolidate the ceasefire," he said before going into private talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II.
Arafat accused Israel of maintaining a crippling blockade on Palestinian territories and escalating its military action as a part of efforts "to bring the Palestinian people to their knees."
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and "his herds of settlers" should evacuate all occupied Palestinian territory "if they want peace and security," Arafat said.
"We hope that this meeting will take decisive decisions to support the resistance of the Palestinian people in the face of the Israeli aggression," Arafat said.
"More than 700 martyrs and more than 29,000 [Palestinians have been] injured," Arafat said and conveyed that the Israeli blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip was sapping all resources.
"I am sure that the Arab nation will not be stingy with our people ... the level of unemployment has reached 80 percent in Gaza and 60 percent in the West Bank," with total losses at over 4.5 billion dollars, he said.
"We urge our Arab brothers to draw up a comprehensive Arab program to support the resistance of the Palestinian people on the official and public level," Arafat said.
An Arab summit held in Cairo last October set up two funds worth a total of $1 billion to help shore up the Palestinian economy and Monday's meeting was expected to discuss speeding up the process of delivering these funds, news agencies said.
Meanwhile Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah Khatib told the gathering that, "it is necessary to speed up ways of providing the necessary funds."
Khatib, who chaired the meeting attended by Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, stressed that the Palestinians "are cooperating with all the efforts being made" to restore calm.
"But the issue is not one of security only and the measures taken by Israel do not help in solving the situation," Khatib said.
Closed-door discussions followed the brief opening session, during which Mussa said the talks would also cover the situations in Sudan and Iraq.
The foreign ministers or delegates of Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Morocco, Yemen, and Bahrain and a Palestinian Authority team also attended the one-day meeting.
Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, whose poor health has often kept him away from these meetings, was also present in Amman.
The Arab ministerial committee was formed by the October summit of Arab leaders in Cairo to follow up on support pledged for the Palestinian uprising against Israel, which erupted on September 28.
An Arab summit held in March in Amman decided to provide the aid through monthly installments totaling $240 million over the next six months.
The Palestinians have repeatedly complained that the funds were slow in coming and on May 19, Arafat told another ministerial meeting in Cairo that losses since the Amman summit had amounted to $750 million.
Arafat said at the time that at least $70 million in Arab aid is needed each month in order to support the Palestinian economy and help the victims of the intifada and their families.
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