The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, yesterday confirmed he was seeking an Arab summit meeting to discuss the deadlocked Middle East peace process. Speaking after talks in London with the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, Mr Arafat said a date for the meeting was being discussed and he would raise it with President Mubarak of Egypt in Cairo.
Mr Arafat is frustrated by the lack of progress in the peace process after he and the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, held separate meetings in the US with President Clinton. Mr Arafat blames Mr Netanyahu for stalling on the implementation of the Oslo accords.
Mr Arafat has been reported as having discussed the idea of a summit with President Liamine Zeroual of Algeria, King Hassan of Morocco and President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya of Mauritania.
Mr Arafat said Mr Blair had promised to raise the issue with Mr Clinton in Washington next week. He said Britain had an important role to play as it used to be the colonial power in Palestine and because it holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
Mr Arafat angrily dismissed Mr Netanyahu's demands for further amendments to the Palestinian covenant, which the PLO said has been changed to annul articles calling for Israel's destruction.
He said Mr Netanyahu had "no right" to make such demands when the amended covenant had been accepted by the former Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, and by the US. "He is not above all of them," Mr Arafat said.
Earlier yesterday Israeli troops arrested two Palestinians who they said were on their way to carry out a guerrilla attack. A Palestinian Authority official said the arrests were a sign that Israel and the PLO were co-operating on security but Mr Netanyahu said Mr Arafat was still not doing enough to thwart attacks.
Police arrested the suspects in southern Israel at two of the roadblocks set up after authorities received information of an imminent attack in Jerusalem.
"These two were on their way to carry out some kind of activity against Israel," the Public Security Minister, Mr Avigdor Kahalani, said. "Fortunately, our security forces managed to nab them in time, before the explosion."
Mr Kahalani said the suspects were Israeli Arabs who joined the Islamic militant Hamas group.
Suicide bombers killed 21 people in Jerusalem attacks last summer claimed by Hamas, which spearheads Palestinian opposition to the Israeli-PLO peace process.
Mr Clinton suggested in his meetings with Mr Netanyahu and Mr Arafat last week that Israel should agree to gradual West Bank withdrawals in exchange for more PLO action to bolster Israel's security.