¡¡¡¡KUWAIT CITY, April 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Kuwait's official KUNA news agency Tuesday confirmed an earlier report that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had called for an emergency Islamic summit to discussthe grave situation in the occupied Palestinian lands.

¡¡¡¡KUNA said Arafat urged for the top Islamic gathering in a phone call to Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani earlier in the day.

¡¡¡¡Sheikh Hamad and Arafat also talked about the recent atrocities inflicted on the Palestinians during the all-out Israeli military operations in the West Bank.

¡¡¡¡Sheikh Hamad is the current chairman of the 56-nation Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

¡¡¡¡The Palestinian WAFA news agency said on an earlier occasion that Arafat on Tuesday called for an emergency OIC summit meeting to deal with the Middle East crisis, especially to press for the Israeli pullout from the West Bank.

¡¡¡¡Arafat insisted that Israel withdraw its troops from the Palestinian territories they reoccupied recently before any ceasefire talks.

¡¡¡¡The Palestinian leader is still under the close siege of Israelitroops in the West Bank city of Ramallah. He is expected to have his second meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday.

¡¡¡¡Powell, who held his third meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Tuesday, indicated certain "progress" during his current Mideast mission, although he is still not sure of success in hammering out a ceasefire.

¡¡¡¡There has been no breakthrough in the Palestinian-Israeli stalemate, with Palestinians standing firm on a full Israeli pullout as the very first step, and Israel rejecting the demand even in defiance of calls from the United Nations and the United States, its main ally. Enditem

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