Gaza City, June 13: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has appealed for help from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in ending violence in the Middle East that has turned the region into a "bloodbath". "President Arafat sent a letter to Kofi Annan calling on him to intervene immediately to stop the bloodbath perpetrated by the Israeli occupying forces since the summit of Sharm-el-Sheikh and Aqaba", an official here said yesterday, referring to peace talks held in Egypt and Jordan earlier this month. An Arafat adviser, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said Arafat has also consulted with Arab League leader Amr Mussa on recent events, which have seen Israeli and Palestinian forces unleash a volley of deadly attacks and reprisals.

A senior Hamas leader, his wife and their infant daughter were among seven Palestinians killed yesterday in the fifth Israeli helicopter strike in the Gaza Strip in three days, Palestinian medical sources said. The vow came after the group's latest suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Wednesday that left 17 people dead, including the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades attacker.
Bureau Report