The Palestinian President has arrived in Washington for talks with President Clinton aimed at ending the cycle of violence in the Middle East. Yasser Arafat is hoping to win American support for a United Nations peacekeeping force to protect Palestinians. Mr Clinton is due to meet the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, on Sunday.
In Israel, the Government has cancelled meetings between its officials and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. Mrs Robinson arrived in Israel yesterday to begin a weeklong Middle East visit. Israeli Foreign Ministry sources said that the decision had been taken after she called off meetings with right-wing politicians, including the Likud party leader, Ariel Sharon.
Two Palestinian women bystanders were killed when an Israeli helicopter gunship launched a missile attack in the West Bank town of Beit Jala; a senior member of Fatah, the faction Yasser Arafat belongs to, was also killed. Witnesses said that the women were standing in the street when the helicopter attacked the vehicle in which the Fatah activist was travelling.
