London, Sept 15: Prime Minister Tony Blair's government today urged Middle East leaders to "exercise restraint" and said the Israeli government's suggestion that it was considering killing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat could damage the peace process. "We have to recognize that raising the rhetoric is not necessarily a helpful way" of forwarding the road map to peace in the region, Blair's official spokesman said.
"It is important that everyone exercises restrain and everyone focuses on how we can achieve the solution that everybody wants," the spokesman added, in a guarded response to Israeli Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's comment yesterday that "killing (Arafat) is definitely one of the options" under consideration by the Israeli government.
Bureau Report