VATICAN CITY, May 22: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat asked Pope John Paul II to intervene to help remove the deadlock on Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, a Palestinian source said here.

The source said the request was transmitted verbally by Arafat's wife Souha at a private audience with the Pope yesterday.

Souha Arafat was accompanied by her daughter Zahwa, aged two, who was blessed by the Pope, the source added. She arrived in Rome on Tuesday to receive a prize awarded by the Italian Cultural Organisation, Donna Roma, before going to Verona in northern Italy to open an international children's aid centre.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.