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British prime minister courts Arafat

Arafat arrives at London's Heathrow Airport on Sunday.

LONDON, England -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called on Palestinians to reject Osama bin Laden's extreme form of Islam.

Blair is to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Monday in London in an effort to kick-start the stalled peace process and to discuss the bombing campaign of Afghanistan.

A senior Palestinian official said it was believed Britain and the United States were "working closely on ideas that are aimed at reviving the peace process and moving to a political settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."

But a Blair spokesman said the peace talks were "just part of the continuing efforts to reinvigorate the peace process."

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Blair and Arafat are also set to talk about the current U.S.-led attacks on Afghanistan, which have been militarily backed by Britain, in an attempt to flush out bin Laden and his al Qaeda network -- blamed for the September 11 suicide plane strikes on the United States.

Blair, in an article for the Arab newspaper al-Quds, based in Jerusalem, appealed to Palestinians to join the fight against bin Laden.

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He said the attacks on New York and Washington -- and a fourth in which the hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania -- were not based on faith but a desire for power through inflicting terror.

"Osama bin Laden likes to pretend he speaks for the Palestinian cause," he wrote.

"He likes to pretend that he is driven by faith. Neither of those claims, it seems to me, are true.

"They are a cover for his real motivation, which is power; power which he yields through terror," he added.

"Let us be clear. If we don't take a stand against Osama bin Laden and his puppet regime in Kabul, he will seek to overthrow other Muslim states and put in place regimes of fear, terror and intolerance," Blair wrote.

"The question Muslims around the world have to ask themselves is: Do you want to live under the sort of regime we see today in Kabul? Because that is what bin Laden and al Qaeda want for you," he said.

Bin Laden has threatened the United States with terror until the Palestinians have found peace in their conflict with Israel, and he has accused the world of remaining silent in the face of bloodshed in the West Bank and Gaza.

The United States has been pressuring Israel and the Palestinians to end a year of fighting and to revive peace talks as it tries to keep Arab countries in its anti-terrorist alliance.

Blair has undertaken a round of shuttle diplomacy in an attempt to shore up the alliance.