Christian Message Boards: Muqata stalemate continues, Pope, EU call for end to siege

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By Amos Harel, Ha'aretz Correspondent and Agencies

The stalemate over the siege of the Muqata, the Ramallah headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, remained Tuesday as the Palestinians stuck to their refusal to provide Israel with a list of the estimated 200 people inside the last remaining building in the Palestinian Authority compound demolished by IDF bulldozers and tanks over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Pope John Paul called for an end to the violence and the siege and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who holds the European Union's rotating presidency, urged Arafat to do all he can to rein in suicide bomb attacks against Israel and called on Israel to lift the siege.

In Ramallah, some 1,000 Palestinians mostly youths took to the streets Tuesday morning, in cars and on foot, banging pots and pans and trash can lids and honking horns, to protest the siege on Arafat. Israeli troops, within sight of the demonstrators, refrained from action against them.

The IDF on Tuesday allowed another truckload of food and medical equipment, provided by East Jerusalemites, to enter the compound for the besieged people inside, after the truck carrying the supplies was examined for security purposes.

The pope's call was issued by Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who said the Pope was worried by Israel's "grave attack" on Arafat's compound and had urged Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to "suspend such actions that compromise the already faint hopes of peace in the region."

The tersely worded message to Sharon was sent in a letter by Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano. "The Holy Father will continue to defend the right of all peoples to live in peace within secure boundaries and in a climate of reciprocal respect," his statement added.

The Danish prime minister spoke with Arafat by phone, and repeated his criticism of Israel's siege and demolition of Arafat's compound in Ramallah and said the current situation risked fueling extremism on both sides.

"The prime minister deplores the recent terror attacks on Israeli targets and said the Palestinian Authority must do its utmost to prevent them in order to help break the vicious circle of violence," an EU diplomat said.

"The prime minister also expressed the EU's deep concern over Israel's reoccupation of Chairman Arafat's headquarters ... Israel has the right to take appropriate measures to defend itself but those actions now taken in Ramallah are not the right answer," the diplomat quoted Rasmussen as telling Arafat.

Rasmussen said the 15-nation EU was doing all it could, both in the region and in global forums, to try to "de-escalate" the conflict. "The situation must not be used by the radicals on each side," he was quoted as telling Arafat. EU envoys were trying to persuade Israel to allow them access to Arafat in his compound, Rasmussen said.

Five Palestinians were also arrested Tuesday in the Jenin and Ramallah areas.

In Lebanon, thousands of Palestinians marched in the streets of Rashidiyeh, a refugee camp, after Arafat spoke to camp residents by phone from his besieged Ramallah headquarters.

"Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine whether they like it or not," Arafat told camp residents by telephone in remarks broadcast over loudspeakers in the camp. "We have been steadfast and will continue to stand strong in front of the Israeli enemy, not just in Lebanon and Palestine, but in the entire Arab region, protecting our Islamic and Christian holy places," he said.