Arafat, Powell Hold Phone Talks on Violence

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, December 29, 2001

Arafat, Powell Hold Phone Talks on Violence

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and U.S. Secretary of state Colin Powell discussed on telephone late Friday the decrease of violence and the resumption of peace negotiations with Israel, a senior Palestinian official said on Saturday.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a top aide to Arafat, said that Powell spoke first with Arafat and told him that the decrease of violence between the Palestinians and Israelis would be a good gesture to resume the peace talks.

Abu Rudeineh told Palestinian radio "Voice of Palestine" that Powell promised to continue urging the Israeli government to ease security and military restrictions imposed on the Palestinian territories for about 15 months.

Meanwhile, Israeli radio reported that Powell had also spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, without giving details of the phone talks.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) cabinet Friday appealed to the U.S. to send U.S. Mideast peace envoy General Anthony Zinni back to the region to start the immediate implementation of (George) Tenet's plan and Mitchell report recommendation.

"The leadership is ready to send a security and a political team to Washington to explain the positions and measures taken by the Palestinian side," said a statement issued after the PNA cabinet meeting chaired by Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

It is reported that a U.S. State Department official indicated earlier that Zinni would return to the region when conditions were appropriate, but noted that at the moment there were no concrete plans for the envoy's return.

On December 16, Arafat called for an end to militant attacks on Israel, but Israel said that Arafat had not cracked down strongly enough on groups behind a series of suicide bombing attacks in Israel, which claimed lives dozens of Israelis.

The PNA security forces had declared a state of emergency, closed down more than 30 institutions belong to Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad (Holy War), and arrested more than 200 members of the two organizations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.