|
|
 |
World | ||||||||||||
|
Barak Reiterates Israel's Troop Withdrawal From South LebanonIsraeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak reiterated Sunday that Israel will withdraw its troops from south Lebanon by July this year with or without a peace agreement with Syria.Talking to reporters after his meeting with visiting Dutch Prime Minister Willem Kok, Barak said he will not allow anyone to test his intention for bringing the Israeli boys home from south Lebanon. Barak also reiterated that Israel expects the withdrawal from south Lebanon to take place in the context of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 425, which calls for the deployment of either Lebanese government troops or the international forces in south Lebanon after Israel's pullout. On the Israeli-Syrian peace talks, Barak said that although the talks have been stalled since January this year, the door of peace with Syria has not been closed. The prime minister expressed the hope that Syria will return to the negotiating table at an earlier date. The Israeli-Syrian peace talks entered a stalemate in January after the two sides held two rounds of talks in the United States due to Israel's refusal to promise to return to Syria the entire Golan Heights, which Israel occupied during the 1967 Middle East War. U.S. President Bill Clinton failed last Sunday in Geneva to reach an agreement with his Syrian counterpart Hafez Al-Assad on restarting the talks. Lebanese Defense Minister Ghazi Zuetir suggested on Saturday Lebanon might request Syria to send its troops to south Lebanon if Israel withdraws its troops unilaterally. Ghazi's statement received strong rejection from the Israeli side. Barak told the weekly cabinet meeting earlier on Sunday that it is impractical for Syria to deploy its troops in south Lebanon and Israel will never allow that to happen. Kok is here for a two-day visit which will end on Tuesday.
 In This Section 
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright by People's Daily Online, all right reserved | | Mirror in U.S. | Mirror in Japan | Mirror in Edu-Net | Mirror in Tech-Net | |
