TO RESUME TALKS ISRAEL SHOULD STOP BUILDING SETTLEMENTS, ARAFAT SAID








CAIRO, MARCH 2. (FROM RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT IGOR MARKOV). The first condition for resuming the peace talks between Palestine and Israel is to stop building Jewish settlements on Palestinian land and discharge all Palestinian political prisoners. Head of the Palestinian national administration Yasser Arafat said this when speaking at the opening of the extraordinary summit meeting of the Organisation of African Unity in the Libyan city of Sirte.


	Yasser Arafat asked the leaders of the African states - participants in the summit - to exert influence on the UN Security Council so as Israel stop aggression and remove blockade from the Palestinian territories.