U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is urging Israel to end its blockade of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

For weeks, Israeli forces have stopped Mr. Arafat from leaving his West Bank home in Ramallah -- while Israel has been demanding that he stop anti-Israeli attacks.

Secretary-General Annan says he does not blame either side for the escalating violence. But he says Israel should end Mr. Arafat's virtual house arrest, and the Palestinian leader should crack down hard on anti-Israeli extremists operating from areas under his control.

Mr. Annan made the comments Tuesday at the start of a U.N. meeting in New York on the plight of the Palestinian people.

Earlier in the day, Israeli forces killed one Palestinian policeman and arrested at least 12 suspected militants in raids in the West Bank.

Among those arrested, Israeli authorities took custody of a wanted gunman from Mr. Arafat's Fatah faction and a suspected member of the militant Islamic Jihad organization.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer says he may send troops to re-occupy some Palestinian-controlled areas if militants fire any more Qassam-Two rockets into Israel. Two such rockets were fired earlier this week from the Gaza Strip, triggering retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

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