British Minister Snubs Americans With Visit to Arafat

Britain delivered an emphatic snub to the United States president, George Bush, last night by sending one of its foreign ministers, Mike O'Brien, to meet the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.

Mr O'Brien travelled from Jerusalem through Israeli checkpoints to meet Mr Arafat in his ruined compound in Ramallah in the West Bank.

The visit was a clear sign of defiance on the part of the British government, emphasising its determination to go its own way on at least one aspect of Middle East policy: the role of Mr Arafat.

The timing was symbolic, coming eight days after Mr Bush delivered a speech declaring the US would no longer deal with Mr Arafat.

Downing Street and the Foreign Office tried to minimise the fallout from the visit. They insisted it was a familiarisation tour for Mr O'Brien, who became responsible for the Middle East in a reshuffle in May, and that the visit was planned before Mr Bush made his speech. But it could easily have been cancelled if Downing Street had been concerned about US sensitivities.

Mr O'Brien and Mr Arafat discussed Mr Bush's speech, which mapped out how to establish a Palestinian state. They also talked about reform of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian election in January and suicide bombers.

Although he is the first British minister to see Mr Arafat since Mr Bush's speech he is not the first from Europe: the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, did so last week.

Mr O'Brien left London for Israel on Monday, and yesterday met the Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres, and officials from the Israeli defence department and the prime minister's office.

Defending the meeting with Mr Arafat, Tony Blair's official spokesman said: "We have said that we will continue to talk to those people who are the elected representatives of the Palestinian people, but as we have said in the past we want to see the reform of the Palestinian Authority."