Expressing impatience over repeated delays in the release of the document, Arafat told the Spanish daily ABC that “it is indispensable to publish and immediately put into practice the road map,” particularly since a Palestinian Cabinet had now been set up.

“First it was put off until after the elections in Palestine, which could not be held because of the occupation of our land. Then it was delayed until after the Israeli elections. And then it was put aside until after an Israeli government had been set up. When that was formed, it was put off until the creation of a Palestinian government,” Arafat said in the interview, published yesterday.

“Now there is a Palestinian government, it (the road map) should be applied immediately,” the Palestinian leader said.

The interview was published two days after a Palestinian Cabinet was set up under reformist politician Mahmoud Abbas, a move seen by the United States and Israel as sidelining Arafat, who is blamed for corruption and anti-Israeli violence.

The “road map”, due to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state in 2005, has been drawn up jointly by the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia, but promises to publish it have been repeatedly pushed back by Washington.

In the interview, Arafat also repeated his “categorical condemnation” of a Palestinian attack that killed one Israeli and the assailant in a town north of Tel Aviv on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the European Commission rebuffed yesterday a US call to shun Arafat, saying the European Union would talk to whoever it wanted to.

“Who we contact or who we don’t contact is our business,” said Reijo Kemppinen, a spokesman for the EU’s executive, told reporters at the Commission’s midday news briefing in Brussels.

“We do intend to maintain our dialogue with the Palestinian Authority. When it comes to implementation of the road map we intend to play our role to the full,” he added.

“Arafat remains president of the Palestinian Authority and chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization,” said Emma Udwin, spokeswoman for European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten. “I’m not aware that that has changed.” The US assistant secretary of state for European affairs, Elizabeth Jones, said in a newspaper interview Thursday that European leaders should stop visiting Arafat if they want to help the Middle East peace process.

“The more European prime ministers go visit Arafat, the more Arafat will feel tempted to interfere in a negative way (in the establishment of a new Palestinian government),” she told Portuguese daily O Publico.