Arab League Suggests Severing Israeli Ties

May 19 -- The Arab League, a confederation of regional diplomats meeting in Egypt, is urging Arab countries to sever all political communication with Israel in the wake of airborne attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

"The meeting called for severing all Arabic political communication with Israel as long as the aggression of the siege on the Palestinian people and their national authority continues," said a statement issued at the end of the emergency meeting, the Associated Press reported.

The call was led by ministers from Egypt and Jordan, two countries that in the past have tried to mediate peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The meeting in Cairo also was attended by representatives from Bahrain, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen.

"Our intention is not to talk about or fall in the trap oftalking about peace proposals while we see that the Israeligovernment does not really mean it," said ArabLeague Secretary-General Amr Moussa, Egypt's former foreign minister, according to the Associated Press. "The attacks against the Palestinians will have to stop, otherwise we will beacting under the point of the gun which we totally and utterlyreject."

Two Days of Air Attacks

The declaration came after Israeli helicopters showered rockets into buildings used by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's security forces in the West Bank, the second airborne attacks on Palestinians in two days.

The Israeli plane and helicopter attacks were in response to a suicide bombing Friday by a Palestinian at a shopping mall in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya that killed the bomber and five other people.

In all, the suicide bombing, air attacks and clashes today and Friday are believed to have claimed the lives of at least 16 Palestinians and five Israelis.

Dozens were injured during today's air attacks in the West Bank towns of Jenin and Tulkarem, the home of the suicide bomber. Several buildings and police cars were destroyed, but no one was killed, a contrast with yesterday when 12 Palestinians died in Israeli air attacks.