Palestinian official: Agreement delay puts pressure on Arafat

The Arab League's council on the level of permanent deputies held a meeting today under the chairmanship of the league's secretary general Esmat Abdel Maguid and the Palestinian minister of planning and international cooperation Nabil Shaath.

After the meeting Shaath said that all the Arab states have supported the recent agreement signed in Washington but they confirmed that Netanyahu will not implement the agreement.

Shaath warned Israel of its policy which will lead the region to violence saying that if the former agreements were signed and implemented, none of these incidents (bombings) would have taken place.

Shaath added that refraining from implementing the agreements by Israel puts great pressure on the Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.

Observers see the lack of implementation of the agreement as putting Arafat in a bad light and makes him more vulnerable to Israeli pressure as he attempts to prove the benefits of the recently signed agreement.