BEIRUT, JERUSALEM, (Islamweb & News Agencies)-Lebanese parties and opposition Palestinian factions Thursday held the US Administration "directly responsible" for Israel's continued attacks against the Palestinians. (Read photo caption below)."The American Administration is directly responsible for what is happening in Palestine, due to its true partnership with Zionist crimes through its backing to the Zionist entity and its justification of those crimes," the parties said in a joint statement.
It was issued after the parties met earlier Thursday at the information office of the Lebanese Islamic Resistance group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah had called for an "extraordinary meeting to discuss the latest developments in occupied Palestine following the violation of sacred places and savage massacres committed by the Zionist enemy."
Besides Hezbollah, the Lebanese parties included the Shiite Amal movement, the Communist Party, the Lebanese branch of the Baath party ruling neighboring Syria, and the Nationalist Syrian Socialist Party.
The Palestinian parties included all of the opposition factions, apart from the mainstream Fatah movement led by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.


Arafat Meets Pope
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called Thursday for a halt to all violence in the Middle East and the immediate appointment of international observers to the region.Israel, meanwhile, battled mounting criticism of its missile attack on the offices of the militant Islamic movement Hamas, which killed eight people including two children in the West Bank city of Nablus Tuesday.
The attack sparked an upsurge in the violence that has raged in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began 10 months ago.
In the latest violence, Israeli occupation troops shot dead a Palestinian who the occupation army said was planting a bomb near Nablus, triggering a fierce gun battle that raged for hours.
Arafat met Pope John Paul and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Italy to drum up support for the appointment of international monitors, which Israel has repeatedly opposed.
The Mitchell plan, drawn up by a panel led by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, calls for an end to violence, followed by a cooling-off period, confidence-building moves and the resumption of peace talks.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Masked Palestinian from Hamas movement holds a picture of Jamal Mansour, a senior Hamas officials who was killed Tuesday, during demonstration in the West Bank city of Ramallah August 1, 2001. Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas said on Wednesday retaliatory attacks against Israel was 'inevitable' to avenge the killing of four of its political office by Israel in the West Bank city of Nablus a day ago. (Osama Silwadi/Reuters)