Bush asks Sharon to permit Arafat attending the summit

The US President George Bush has renewed his request once again from the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon to suspend the siege imposed on the chairman of the Palestinian authority Yasser Arafat and to permit him to attend the meetings of the Arab summit in Beirut.

The Monte Carlo radio correspondent in Washington said on Tuesday that the spokesman for the White House said that the US President Bush asked his secretary of state Colin Powell to convey this request to Sharon and that Powell held two telephone calls with each of Sharon and Arafat for that purpose.