Gulf Arab students slam Israel in rare protests

MUSCAT, Oman (Reuters) -- University students in Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) demonstrated on Tuesday in solidarity with Palestinians confronting Israeli forces, in rare protests in the conservative Gulf Arab countries.

About 200 students from Oman's Sultan Qaboos University held a four-hour march on campus chanting anti-Israeli slogans, witnesses said.

They urged their government to close down an Israeli trade office in Muscat and Oman's office in Tel Aviv.

"It was a peaceful demonstration but the students made their demands clear that Oman must not continue to have any relationship with Israel until they stop their oppressive acts against Palestinians," a witness told Reuters.

The demonstration ended peacefully.

Oman is one of two Gulf Arab states that maintain low-level trade relations with the Jewish state.

Oman and Qatar froze steps towards normalization of relations with Israeli in 1997 over what they saw as hardline Israeli policies and the stalling of the peace process.

In the UAE, hundreds of university students demonstrated to protest Israeli practices. Students in Abu Dhabi, the larges emirate in the seven-member UAE federation, held similar protests.

At least 47 Arabs have been killed in six days of clashes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and in Arab towns and villages in Israel. An Israeli border guard, a soldier and a Jewish civilian have also died.

The violence followed last Thursday's visit by rightist Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, one of the most sacred Islamic shrines in the world. The shrine is also revered by Jews as the site of their biblical temple.

The deaths sparked angry reactions by most Arab countries, including street demonstrations in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

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