UN chief seeks end to Arafat 'house arrest'

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan today urged an end to the ‘‘virtual house arrest’’ imposed on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as a first step toward ending Middle East violence.

Arafat ‘‘is being asked to stop the violence ... to lead,’’ he said in Vienna. Nevertheless, the Palestinian leader and aides ‘‘are so much under pressure that I really don’t see how he can deliver what the international community wants him to do.’’