JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Diplomatic efforts gathered pace on Sunday in an international drive to pressure Israel and the Palestinians to prevent violence spinning out of control.Palestinian and Israeli diplomatic sources said the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, David Satterfield, would visit the region on Sunday for talks with leaders from both sides.
Tension remained high as scattered violence continued in the West Bank, Gaza and in Arab East Jerusalem where Israeli police scuffled with protesters outside the Palestine Liberation Organization's main office.(Read photo caption below)
International pressure mounted on Israeli police to withdraw from the PLO's Orient House which they seized on Friday in a move defended by Israel as a ``measured response'' to a Palestinian bombing that killed 16 people.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat urged U.S. and European leaders to push Israel to vacate Orient House, a symbol of Palestinian aspirations for statehood.
After months of bloodshed in which more than 670 people have died, the conflict threatened to widen as the head of the Lebanese Hizbollah group called on its ``mujahideen''-fighters for a just cause, to be prepared to take part in the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
``I call on all of Hizbollah's 'mujahideen' to be in a state of psychological, emotional and physical preparation to face this challenge,'' Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in remarks broadcast by the group's Manar television station.
INTERNATIONAL CRITCISM
Jordan and Pakistan were among several countries that condemned Israel's takeover of Orient House.
Russia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday repeated its ''decisive condemnation'' of the Palestinian bombing and said the Israeli response marked ``a serious escalation of tensions.''
Israeli diplomatic sources said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Secretary of State Colin Powell in a telephone call on Saturday that police had seized the building to ``prevent the further spilling of blood.''
The German newspaper Die Welt quoted an unrepentant Public Security Minister Uzi Landau as warning that Israel could cripple Palestinian infrastructure and it was not clear how much longer a policy of ``restraint'' could last if violence continued.``The more Arafat urges terrorists to conduct attacks, the nearer draws the time that we will tolerate him no longer,'' Landau said.
Israel accuses Arafat of failing to rein in militants during the uprising in which at least 515 Palestinians, 147 Israelis and 14 Israeli Arabs have died.
Palestinian political factions called for a general strike on Monday to protest against the Israeli takeover.
``ARAFAT CAN DO ``
Bush appeared to question whether either side had the desire to stem the bloodletting, but said explicitly Arafat could do more to stop it.
``Mr. Arafat can do a better job,'' Bush told ABC News on Friday in an interview from his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
``I am deeply concerned that some of the more radical groups are beginning to affect his ability and obviously are provocative as heck toward the Israelis,'' he said.
His remarks irked Palestinian officials, who have pushed for a more active role in tackling the Middle East crisis from Bush's Republican administration.
``We are frustrated at the hesitancy of the United States. The U.S. needs to show leadership in making decisions,'' chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters.
``We need to see immediate implementation of the Mitchell report and the dispatching of international observers, and that's the only way peace can have a chance,'' he said.
Sharon has accepted the terms of the report, a blueprint for a return to negotiations drawn up by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, but insisted there must be seven days of calm before starting to implement its recommendations.
In Gaza, around 2,000 mourners took to the streets for the funerals of Maher Afaneh, 27, and Mohammad Saqqa, 20, killed by Israeli troops on Friday during a confrontation near the Karni commercial crossing.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Israeli police scuffle with Palestinian protestors near the Orient House in East Jerusalem, August 11, 2001. Palestinians were demanding that Israel vacate the premises that has served as a symbol of their quest to make East Jerusalem the capital of a future state. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)