A senior US official said cooperation between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and militant groups opposed to the Middle East Peace Process was a "bad idea."
"We don't think it's good. It's a bad idea," said the official, who declined to be named, in response to reports that Arafat was working with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
He added that Washington was seeking to determine whether the contacts constituted a breach of the Sharm el-Sheikh accords reached last week between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas and its smaller rival Islamic Jihad are virulently anti-Israel and violently opposed to the peace process.
The United States expressed "serious concern" Wednesday in response to a Washington Post report saying the Palestinian Authority was cooperating with the groups.
The Post said Arafat had formed "a working alliance" with militants he had released from jails during current unrest – WASHINGTON (AFP)
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