The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat met with the Taoiseach at Government Buildings tonight. Mr Arafat sought the meeting because of Ireland's position on the United Nations Security Council.
After the talks the Taoiseach reaffirmed Ireland's support for a Palestinian state and said that Ireland would use its position at the UN to try and get the Middle East peace process back on track. Mr Arafat said that Palestinians were not seeking the moon but only their just rights.
In London earlier, Mr Arafat and the British Prime Minister called on Israel to resume immediate talks on the peace talks. Yasser Arafat and Tony Blair were speaking at a news conference in Downing Street after having more than an hour and a half of talks.
Mr Blair said that both he and Mr Arafat recognised that this was the time for new resolve in the Middle East peace process. The British and the Americans now believe that restarting the Middle East peace process is crucial to success in their so-called war against terrorism.
As Yasser Arafat was arriving to meet the prime minister this morning, officials at Downing Street were accusing Osama bin Laden of hijacking the Palestinian cause for his own ends.
To counter this, and as part of its wider battle for public opinion in the Arab world, the British government now wants to show that it is working to create the peaceful conditions in which dialogue can flourish.
Yasser Arafat was among the first to condemn the attacks on the United States on 11 September. However the British and American diplomatic offensive to win Palestinian support for the war against terrorism has alarmed the Israelis.
The Israelis have been be preparing themselves to oppose Washington's plan for a Palestinian state with a shared Jerusalem. Downing Street officials say that Tony Blair will be in touch with Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, shortly.
Meanwhile, there are conflicting reports from the West Bank about an explosion that has killed a member of the hard-line Palestinian group, Hamas. One report said the man was killed in a car bomb explosion. But some witnesses claimed his car was hit by a missile fired by an Israeli helicopter.
The incident happened in the town of Nablus outside the offices of the Fatah movement led by the Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat. It happened a day after Israel renewed a widely criticised policy of killing Islamic militants by shooting dead a man it said was behind a suicide bomb attack.
Israeli troops have since withdrawn from Palestinian-ruled areas of the West Bank city of Hebron in an effort to ease tension. Israeli and Palestinian security officials met yesterday to discuss Israel's withdrawal from occupied areas, despite the shooting by Israeli forces earlier in the day.
