Secretary General of the Arab League (AL) Amr Moussa warned Israel on Tuesday against attacking Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
"Any attack against the PNA (Palestinian National Authority) leader will lead to a reaction on the same level," Moussa told reporters after an AL emergency session held in Cairo earlier in the day, which was participated by permanent delegates of the AL member states.
"If President Arafat or the PNA are attacked, the Palestinians should not be blamed for any reaction they might make," he cautioned.
The delegates agreed to make the emergency session an open-ended meeting to discuss the developments of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories in the light of the Israeli attacks against the PNA leadership, Moussa disclosed.
The AL chief urged the international community to reconsider the call for deploying UN observers into the Palestinian territories to protect the civilians there.
"The Palestinian resistance will continue as long as the Israeli occupation continues," Moussa said.
On the US statement that "Israel has the right to self- defense," Moussa said "We disagree with the statement. Israel is an occupation force and the resistance against occupation is a legitimate right."
"I don't think the United State gave Israel the green light to strike everywhere," he added.
The US role is very important and it is right to promote it rather than exclude it, Moussa noted, adding that "we should give the US Secretary of State Colin Powell a chance to honor his words on the Palestinian statehood and Jewish settlements."
"We have to take the chance of the US mission in the region and urge them to focus their efforts on stopping the escalation of confrontations as a prelude to talks on a political settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," Moussa concluded.
(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2001)
