Barak Recalls Negotiating Team in StockholmIsraeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak Sunday called his negotiation team in Stockholm for talks with the Palestinians to return home in light of the surge of violence in the Palestinian self-rule areas.Israeli Public Security Minster Shlomo Ben-Ami, head of the Israeli negotiation team will return to Jerusalem on Monday morning, a statement issued by Barak's office said. The statement ascribed the urgent recalling to the increasing violence between Palestinian protesters demanding further release of Palestinian security prisoners and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The negotiators should cease the talks and return home because of "the situation in the (Palestinian self-rule) territories" and because of the need of consultations "regarding the future of the talks", the statement said. The Stockholm back-channel talks, which were only made public on May 13, had been regarded by the two sides as the most promising opportunity for reaching a framework agreement for final-status issues between them. The negotiators just returned to Stockholm on Thursday for a further round to discuss thorny issues, such as the status of Jerusalem, the return of Palestinian refugees, the future of Jewish settlements, border, security and water. Local analysts believe the ceasing of Stockholm talks is Barak's gesture to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, pressuring the Palestinian leader to quell the street violence and ensure there will be no renewed outbreak of bloody clashes. |
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