BRITAIN: The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has written to his Israeli counterpart Mr Ariel Sharon, urging him to allow Palestinian leaders to attend upcoming talks in London to discuss reforms of the Palestinian Authority.
"Blair believes that the meeting is necessary and has written a letter to Sharon explaining the full context of the meeting and why it is necessary that it should proceed," the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.
The Israeli cabinet banned the Palestinians from attending in response to the latest suicide bombings in Tel Aviv, sparking sharp exchanges between Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw and his counterpart Mr Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr Blair invited Palestinian leaders - but not Mr Yasser Arafat - to attend the discussions on reforms of Palestinian institutions, which are considered corrupt and inefficient. Palestinian sources had said the discussions would be held on January 13-14th, though this has not been confirmed by London.
Israel's ambassador to London, Mr Zvi Shtauber, said he did not know whether his government would accept Blair's request.
"The measures adopted by the \ government are not intended against the UK Government," he told BBC radio.
"They wanted to say, basically, 'Business is not as usual'. Nobody can overlook the last atrocities in Tel Aviv. Just imagine if, in comparison to the UK population, that 200 Brits were killed and more than a thousand injured. That is the main point of our message.
"We have very good relations with the UK government, relations which are based on very solid foundations. But there are also differences. And here we differ, according to our view, the main reform should be done in the security sphere. No excuses this time," said the Israeli ambassador.
UK newspapers reported Mr Blair was left struggling to save his Middle East peace strategy after a "furious" row between Straw and Netanyahu, in the wake of Israel's ban. - (AFP)