GENEVA/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 6 December — Since Israel has ignored every plea that has ever been made of it to respect the human rights of the Palestinians, there is little chance it will heed the latest call. Still, there is a moral duty to keep making them, and the latest was issued yesterday at an international conference of signatory states to the Fourth Geneva Convention. It reaffirmed that the international pact on protecting civilians under military occupation applied to territory seized by Israel in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Both Israel and its closest ally the United States boycotted the conference, called at the request of Arab states, because they said it would be one-sided and misuse the Convention to attack the Jewish state.

Israel made a last-minute appeal on Tuesday to host country Switzerland, which is the neutral depository of the 1949 pact, to suspend the long-planned session because of last weekend’s Palestinian bombings. But Switzerland said there had been no request from the 114 states taking part to cancel the gathering at which Israel came under fire for alleged abuses during the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation of the territories.

At least 746 Palestinians and 222 Israelis have been killed since the uprising flared in September 2000 shortly after peace talks stalled.

A final declaration called on Israel to "refrain from committing grave breaches involving any of the actions mentioned...in the Fourth Convention, such as willful killing, torture, unlawful deportation." It also called on the "occupying power" to refrain from "collective penalties (and) unjustified restrictions of free movement". A delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross said violations included Israeli settlements and restrictions on the activities of medical services, including ambulances.

Switzerland dismissed Israeli suggestions of bias, saying all forms of indiscriminate violence had been condemned. "The fact that 114 (states)...met and made a declaration is an important political message," said conference chairman Ambassador Peter Maurer.

In an interview, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was trying to topple him and the Palestinian Authority. "They (the Israelis) are escalating military attacks everywhere in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank," Arafat told Reuters in an interview.

Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon, denied the accusation. "We don’t want to topple Arafat. We don’t want to topple the Palestinian Authority," Gissin said.

Arafat said in an interview with the US television network ABC that his security forces had arrested some 130 activists. Asked by Reuters if he would continue to do so, he said: "I will do my best as has been decided by the Palestinian leadership."

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said that the foreign ministers of the 22 members of the organization will hold an urgent meeting in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the situation in the Middle East. "This meeting hopes to adopt a unified Arab position concerning the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and their national institutions," Moussa declared to the press.

A Palestinian blew himself up outside a Jerusalem luxury hotel meanwhile, wounding three people. A device strapped to the bomber’s body exploded prematurely as he crossed the road outside the former Hilton Hotel, showering a relatively empty Jerusalem street with parts of his body and nails and shrapnel, police said. Three people at a bus stop nearby were slightly hurt by flying glass.