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Arafat Poses Conditions for Meeting Barak
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Wednesday gave three conditions for meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, including an immediate end to shootings by Israeli troops.
Agence France-Presse quoted the general delegate of Palestine in Paris, Madame Leila Shahid, as saying that the two other conditions are the pullout of Israeli troops from Palestinian autonomous cities under the state of crisis and the Esplanade of Mosques in Jerusalem, and the establishment of an international commission with investigators from Israel, Palestine, the United States and the European Union.
Barak said on Wednesday that he would not accept an international commission to investigate the crisis.
Arafat and Barak held separate meetings with French President Jacques Chirac and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Wednesday, but it is not known whether a three-way meeting between Arafat, Barak and Albright can take place on Wednesday.
Israel has warned that a failure of the Paris meeting will mean the continuation of violence in the region.
Large-scale violence occurred after Israeli right-wing opposition leader Ariel Sharon and his parliamentary colleagues visited the Temple Mount, a holy site to both Jews and Muslims in East Jerusalem, last Thursday.
So far, at least 58 people have died and more than 1,000 others have been injured in the clashes.
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