US calls for restraint and calm over Jericho

JAKARTA, Mar 14 (Reuters) The United States today called for calm and restraint by both the Palestinians and the Israelis after Israeli forces stormed a West Bank prison following the withdrawal of British monitors.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, who is travelling with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Indonesia, said the United States had been in touch with both sides to appeal for calm.

''We want to see this resolved as quickly and peacefully as possible,'' he said, adding that the British monitors were withdrawn out of concern for their safety.

There were no US monitors in the prison at the time, McCormack said, although it was a joint British-US mission.

He said the Palestinians had been told repeatedly of concerns over the safety of US and British monitors at Jericho prison, which houses Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader Ahmed Saadat and five other prominent figures.

The British sent a letter to the Palestinian Authority on March 8 issuing a ''last warning'' about safety concerns, he added.

McCormack said Rice had spoken to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw by telephone from Indonesia, where she also discussed the west asia peace process with officials from the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Israel's biggest raid for months followed suggestions that Saadat might be freed. A guard and a prisoner were killed in clashes and protests erupted across the Palestinian territories with most anger directed at Britain and the United States.

Asked whether Israel's response was appropriate, McCormack declined to comment but reiterated the US appeal for calm on all sides.

Militants set ablaze the British cultural centre and stormed the European Union compound in Gaza. Others kidnapped a Red Cross official believed to be from Switzerland from his office in Gaza.

France said two of its nationals were also kidnapped.

McCormack said he had no details on the kidnappings.

REUTERS PG RN2248