US Secretary of State Colin Powell has postponed his scheduled meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from Saturday to Sunday, a senior Palestinian official said late Friday.
The postponement was disclosed hours after the day's suicide bombing attack in Jerusalem, which has left six Israelis dead and some 70 others injured.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Arafat had been informed by US officials that the meeting might be "delayed" until the day after tomorrow."
Washington is urging Arafat, who is being under close siege by Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Ramallah, to condemn the latest blast in west Jerusalem while Powell is pressing on his mission, which is expected to yield a long-awaited ceasefire.
Powell is finding himself locked between hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to hold on the widely condemned military operations and continued suicide attacks by Palestinian militants.
A ceasefire is apparently impossible with continued Israeli operations and without a meeting with Arafat after Powell met Sharon earlier in the day.
On one occasion, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher already urged Powell to meet with Arafat despite the deadly blast in Jerusalem.
Maher became the highest-ranking Arab official to meet Arafat at his Ramallah office Friday since Israel launched its current round of military onslaught on the Palestinians on March 29.
It is not yet known if his meeting was arranged as a precursor to Powell's ceasefire talks with Arafat.
(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2002)
