Qatar FM today in Ramullah

A Palestinian diplomatic source in Doha said on Friday that the Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasem al-Thani will head today for Ramullah to meet with the chairman of the Palestinian authority Yasser Arafat, who has been besieged since three months in this city.

The diplomat who asked not to be identified added that the Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasem al-Thani " will visit the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat at his residence under the Israeli siege in Ramullah today." The source indicated that the " Qatari side informed the Palestinian National Authority on this Qatari desire during the meeting held between the ruler of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khaleifa al-Thani with the Palestinian minister of international cooperation Nabil Shaath two days ago.

He continued, Sheikh Hamad will be then the third Arab official to visit Arafat while under siege following the visit of the Jordanian foreign minister Marwan al-Mashaar and the director of the Egyptian intelligence Omar Suleiman.

On January 23, the Qatari foreign minister said that the Arabs cannot help the Palestinians and he thought they (the Arabs) have to beg the US in order that Israel will halt the violence.