Peres asks Arafat to arrest several Palestinians

The Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres called on the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat, during a telephone call to arrest many Palestinians.

The Israeli radio on Friday quoted Israeli security officials as saying that Peres gave Arafat a list including names of Palestinians Israel wants to arrest including Atif Obeidat, noting that Arafat promised Peres to arrest those Palestinians.

For his turn, the mini ministerial council at the Israeli government announced that the Palestinians security departments summoned Obeidat to interrogate him on Thursday and then freed him shortly later.