Sharon - Israel must be allowed to prevent Arafat's return

Associated Press WriterJERUSALEM (AP) -- Despite U.S. pressure to allow Yasser Arafat to attend an Arab summit in Lebanon, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday that Israel must have the right to prevent his return if there are terrorist attacks during his absence.

In doing so, Sharon set an extremely difficult condition for allowing the Palestinian leader's trip to go ahead.

"Unfortunately, the conditions have not developed for allowing Arafat to go to Beirut," Sharon said in an interview on Israel TV's Arabic language news, referring to the continuing attacks on Israelis by Palestinian militants.

Sharon added: "If it is said to Israel by the United States that (Israel) can refuse to allow him to return if there are terror attacks, it will be easier for me to allow him to leave."

Arafat should also issue "a declaration ... in his own voice, to his people, about a cease-fire, and a call to stop the violence," Sharon said.

The United States has pressed Israel to allow Arafat to attend the Beirut summit regardless of whether the truce efforts by U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni succeed. After a week of diplomacy, truce efforts were bogged down Tuesday, with differences over the timetable, arrests of Palestinian militants and other issues.

Arab leaders convening in Beirut are expected to approve a Saudi proposal for Arab-Israeli peace in exchange for an Israeli return of all the land Israel occupied in 1967 -- the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

Sharon has said that there must be a truce in the 18-month-old conflict for Arafat to attend the summit, and last week suggested that his return would depend both on whether there were terrorist attacks in his absence and the content of his speech in Beirut.

Tuesday was the first time he said the United States had to sign on to that -- a demand that seemed very unlikely to be met.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said he had no news of new Israeli conditions but added: "The president's position is simple and clear. We're dealing with a sovereign government. Governments have the right to make determinations."

There was no immediate Palestinian reaction to Sharon's statements.

On Monday, the Palestinian Cabinet released a statement charging that Israel was "blackmailing" them on the issue of Arafat's attending the summit and maintaining that the decision was up to the Palestinians alone. On ABC-TV Monday, Arafat said Israel had no right to prevent him from returning.

Israel controls the entry and exit to the Palestinian territories. In December Israeli forces began confining Arafat to the West Bank town of Ramallah, demanding he crack down on militants who attack Israelis. That restriction was lifted in recent weeks, but Arafat still needs Israeli permission to travel abroad.