AS THE Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, condemned Israeli air and artillery strikes on Lebanon, saying they would adversely affects Middle East peace moves, Ms Leila Khaled who sprang to fame when she hijacked a TWA airliner in 1969, was barred by Israel from entering the West Bank yesterday.
Ms Khaled (52) had planned to attend the forthcoming debate on ending the Palestine National Council (PNC) call for the destruction of the Jewish state.
During Palm Sunday celebrations in Gaza Mr Arafat said: "We, condemn completely these attacks and we support our brothers in Lebanon in all that they are facing."
From the Jordanian side of the Jordan River Ms Khaled said: "This is the nature of the Israelis, they have expelled, our entire people, so is it a problem for them, if they allow one Palestinian to enter or not to enter?"
An Israeli spokesman said Israeli authorities had banned Ms Khaled's entry at, the Allenby Bridge from Jordan because they were not informed ahead of time of her arrival. The spokesman said that 250 of the 450 PNC members had received entry permits and 200 had already arrived for the PNC meeting to be convened next Monday in Gaza to remove clauses of the 1964 PLO charter calling for Israel's destruction.
Mr Jamil Tarifi, head of a joint Palestinian Israeli civilian liaison committee, said that under an agreement with Israel, all PNC members may enter without prior notification once they have been issued a permit. He said Ms Khaled had a permit and her name was at the Allenby Bridge.
Captured in London in 1970, while trying to hijack an El Al airliner, Ms Khaled was exchanged for hostages taken in other hijackings. She spent most of the years' since then in Beirut and Damascus but has been in Amman since 1993. Still a member of the Damascus based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) - a PLO faction opposed to the current peace process - she says she reject Israeli conditions for her return to Palestinian self rule areas as they involve signing a paper denouncing terrorism and backing the peace process.
Mr Arafat promised Israel last September to change the PLO charter two months after convening the Palestinian legislative council, elected in a poll in January. Israel has threatened to halt talks with the PLO if he fails.