THE Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, has accused Israel of trying to destroy the Middle East peace process.
"This settlement issue is an attempt to blow up the peace process from its roots, because there is no peace without Jerusalem," he said at the weekend in a strongly worded attack on Israel's plans to build a new settlement in Arab East Jerusalem. Mr Arafat was addressing an emergency session of the Arab League in Cairo.
Mr Arafat said that the Israeli cabinet's approval of a plan to construct Jewish housing in the occupied East Jerusalem area of Jabal Abu Ghneim, called Har Homah by the Israelis, was a violation of accords with the previous Labour government.
"According to the agreement I had with (former prime minister Yitzhak) Rabin, not one single house is to be added in Jerusalem the status of the city is to be discussed and no one side can change it in any way, he said, speaking in English for emphasis.
The Palestinian leader also threatened to apply political pressure if Israel did not back down on the settlement issue.
"We are supposed to declare the setting up of a Palestinian state in five years but what would happen if I declare it right here? What would he (the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu) do then? It's tit for tat and we have our weapons, too," he said.
In Jerusalem, the Israeli government responded by calling any declaration of a state by the Palestinians a "serious mistake".
There has been widespread condemnation of Israel's settlement plans in the Arab world, and Mr Arafat had a sympathetic audience in the permanent representatives to the Arab League.
Following the meeting, the 22 member organisation issued a statement condemning the decision to build the new settlement" and called on "countries that give economic and financial aid to Israel to stop this aid because it will be used in settlement plans on occupied Arab lands".
While in Cairo, Mr Arafat also met the Egyptian President, Mr Hosni Mubarak, who last Thursday warned that the situation in the occupied territories was "dangerous" and likely to deteriorate if the proposed settlement went ahead.
Mr Arafat is now on an official visit to the US and is hoping to persuade the Americans to pressure Israel into reversing its decision.
AFP adds from Jerusalem The first phase of an Israeli withdrawal from rural areas of the occupied West Bank, scheduled to start this week, could be delayed, an official said yesterday.
Mr Shlomo Dror, spokesman for the Israeli army's co-ordinator of activities in the Palestinian territories, said Israeli troops would probably not begin withdrawing by the end of the week, but "the government must still decide".