Copenhagen, Sept 23: In an immediate response to besieged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's plea for help, Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has written letters to US President George Bush, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac on Israel's occupation of his headquarters.
Arafat had telephoned Mahathir on Friday for help from his besieged compound in the West Bank just before the Prime Minister left Kuala Lumpur for London en route to attend the fourth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Copenhagen beginning Monday.
Responding to questions posed by Malaysian journalists on the sidelines of the preparatory meetings for the ASEM summit here Sunday, foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar said Mahathir was deeply concerned over what was happening in the West Bank.
Mahathir had arrived hours earlier to attend an Asian leaders' meeting in preparation for the informal summit with their European counterparts Monday at the Bella Centre.

Mahathir had said in London on Saturday that he feared for Arafat's life and should anything happen to him or be killed, he would be regarded as a martyr which would only lead to increased violence.
Syed Hamid did not divulge what exactly was written by Mahathir to the three leaders but sufficed to say that the latest onslaught was not going to help the peace process.
Mahathir was also of the opinion that the way to resolve the present Palestinian conflict was through Israeli withdrawal through the political process, he said. Bureau Report